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The New Housekeeping 
 
 Efficiency Studies in Home 
 Management 
 
 BY 
 CHRISTINE FREDERICK 
 
 NATIONAL SECRETARY 
 
 CONSULTING HOUSEHOLD EDITOR 
 
 ladies' home JOURNAL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Garden City New York 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 1913 
 

 Copyright, 1912, by 
 Curtis Publishing Co. 
 
 Copyright, 1913, by 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & CoMPANY 
 
 All rights reserved, including that of 
 translation into Foreign Languages, 
 including the Scandinavian 
 
 
 ©CI.A347310 
 
To 
 MY MOTHER AND FATHER 
 
 WHOSE HIGH SPIRIT OF HOUSEKEEPING AND 
 
 HOME-MAKING HAS EVER BEEN MY 
 
 STIMULATION AND IDEAL 
 
PREFACE 
 
 A moderate income, two babies, and constant 
 demands on my time, was the situation that 
 faced me several years ago. 
 
 I hked housework, and was especially fond of 
 cooking; but the deadening point about the whole 
 situation was that I never seemed to finish 
 my work, never seemed to ''get anywhere," 
 and that I almost never had any leisure time to 
 myself. 
 
 I wanted to read a bit, or write out some ideas 
 I had been thinking about, or take a half hour 
 for personal grooming. If I devoted my day 
 to cooking, I was appalled later at the confusion 
 and dirt I had neglected. If I specialized on 
 cleaning, our meals were hurried and ill-pre- 
 pared. If I tried to do justice to both cleaning 
 and preparing of meals, I quite certainly neg- 
 lected the babies and myself. 
 
 My husband came home only to find me ''all 
 [vii] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 tired out," with no energy left to play over a 
 song, or listen to a thoughtful article. I was con- 
 stantly struggling to obtain a little ''higher life" 
 for my individuality and independence; and on 
 the other hand I was forced to give up this in- 
 dividuality to my babies and drudgifying house- 
 work. 
 
 About this time I became acquainted, through 
 my husband's interests, with several men in 
 close touch with the new movement of indus- 
 trial efficiency. From them I learned what 
 the new science of work was accomplishing for 
 the office, the shop, the factory. At first it 
 did not occur to me that methods which were 
 applicable to organized industries, like shoe fac- 
 tories, and iron foundries, could also be applied 
 to my group of very unorganized industries — 
 the home. 
 
 Yet the more I studied it, the more possible 
 it seemed, and I determined to try it. For once 
 I found a use for some of the college training I 
 had despaired of ever putting into practice. I 
 applied to the task of bringing the science of 
 efficiency into the home, the same detailed 
 
 [viii] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 analysis that I had applied many a time in 
 " Zoology A." or " Physics B." 
 
 I confess that it was discouraging at first, due 
 to the distractions and disturbed routines neces- 
 sary in a home where there are small children. 
 But gradually definite results began to come ■ — 
 the most definite result and the most valuable 
 benefit being the development of an efficiency 
 attitude of mind. Once this attitude became 
 thoroughly organized all the household prob- 
 lems, large and small, became invested with 
 entirely new interests and new possibilities. 
 Instead of becoming something upon which to 
 slave, they became objects of keen mental 
 interest — quite the same, I am now sure after 
 investigation, as the tasks of the business and 
 industrial world which men tackle with zest 
 and results. 
 
 I put out this book, therefore, with a deeply 
 earnest hope and belief that the beginnings made 
 in the application of efficiency science to the 
 household (however modest and inadequate) may 
 yet assist in cutting from women the most dreary 
 shackles of which they have ever complained. 
 
 [ixl 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The many letters I have received from Ameri- 
 can housewives in response to the series of four 
 articles on the subject appearing in the Ladies' 
 Home Journal September-December, 1912, indi- 
 cate definitely, and even pathetically, that 
 conditions are sadly in need of remedy, and that 
 in presenting this book I may entertain some 
 hope of solving them. 
 
 Christine Frederick. 
 '' Ayplecroft,'^ 
 
 Greenlawn, L, 7., March, WIS, 
 
 [xj 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Preface vii 
 
 \/ I. Efficiency and the New Housekeeping 3 
 II. Applying "Standard Practice ' ' and 
 
 "Motion Study" to Household 
 Tasks 23 
 
 III. Standardizing Conditions in Kitchen 
 
 Arrangement 46 
 
 IV. The Efficient Tool 60 
 
 i V. Dispatching and Scheduling 
 
 Household Tasks .... 83 
 
 VI. The Housewife AS Purchasing Agent . 102 
 VII. Efficient Management of Household 
 
 Finances 115 
 
 VIII. Reliable Records in the Household 126 
 
 IX. The New Housekeeping Cook Book . 146 
 X. Applying the Wage Schedule and Bonus 
 
 Ideas to the Servant Problem . 153 
 XI. Increasing Servant Efficiency . . 169 
 V XII. Developing the HoM EM aker's Per- 
 sonal Efficiency . . . . 181 
 
 XIII. Men and the Household Efficiency 
 
 Movement 197 
 
 XIV. The Homemaker's Relation to B usiness 
 
 AND Economics 204 
 
 XV. Education and The Home Economics 
 
 Movement 229 
 
 XVI. The " Applecroft " Efficiency Kitchen 248 
 
 XVII. Bibliography of Home Economics . 258 
 
 [xi] 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Mrs. Frederick in Her Efficiency Experiment 
 
 Kitchen, "Applecroft," Greenlawn, L. I. Frontispiece "^ 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Diagram showing badly arranged equipment . . b%^' 
 
 Diagram showing proper arrangement of equipment 52 ^ 
 
 Fuel-Savers 62 i/ 
 
 Portable Oven with Window Prevents Loss of 
 
 Heat 62'- 
 
 Device Utilizing One Burner for Baking ... 62 ^ 
 Gasolene Iron with Concentrated Heating Sur- 
 face 62, 
 
 Tea Kettle and Double Boiler Combined . . . 62 ' 
 
 Well insulated Fuel-saving Fireless Cooker . . 62 
 
 Time-Savers 68 
 
 A Carafe Which Keeps Beverages Iced Many 
 
 Hours 68 
 
 Glass Ice-cream Freezer Which Requires No 
 
 Turning 68 
 
 Speedy Egg-beater Designed on the Turbine 
 
 Principle 68 
 
 Coffee Pot Permits Making Coffee Hours in 
 
 Advance 68 
 
 A Quick Toaster for Oil or Gas Fuels .... 68 
 
 An Egg-boiler that Boils Eggs Just Right ... 68 
 
 A Double Pan Which Cooks Two Foods at Once 68 
 A Measuring Spoon Set Saves Lifting Different 
 
 Spoons 68 
 
 [ xiii ] 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 A Colander and Puree Strainer Which Gives Rapid 
 
 Results 68 '^ 
 
 Labour-Savers 78 «^ 
 
 Dish Drainer Allows Dishes to Dry Themselves 78 i/ 
 Hooded, Long-handled Dust-pan prevents Stoop- 
 ing 78 u 
 
 Stationary Egg-beater Prevents Waste Motion 78 "^ 
 
 Washboiler with Rotary Wheel Saves Rubbing 78 '^ 
 
 Hot Mangle Which Replaces Hand Labour . . 78 i/ 
 Silver Clean Pan Which Does Away with Silver 
 
 Polishing 78 c/ 
 
 AnEfficient, Easily Cleaned Meat-chopper . . 78 i^ 
 
 Step-Savers 80 ^ 
 
 " Lazy Susan," — The Silent Waitress .... 80 ^^ 
 Wheel Tray Which Serves and Clears Away Meals 80 t^ 
 Kitchen Cabinet Which is a Pantry and Table in 
 
 One 80 «^ 
 
 Disappearing Icebox Saves Stair Trotting . . 80 ^^^ 
 
 Businesslike Equipment for the Home .... 138 ^' 
 
 Sample Card from the Home Record Cabinet . . 138 i/ 
 The Time and Worry Saving Home Record 
 
 Cabinet 138 ^ 
 
 A Vertical Letter File for Receipts 138 
 
 A Tickler Which Reminds the Busy Housewife . 138 - 
 A Vertical Filing Envelope for Saving Large Clip- 
 pings 138 
 
 A Book of Handy Labels for Home Use . ... 138 
 Specimen Recipe Card with Illustration, from Filing 
 
 Cook Book 150 
 
 The New Housekeeping Filing Cook Book . , . 150 
 
 [xiv] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
CHAPTER ONE 
 
 EFFICIENCY AND THE NEW HOUSE- 
 KEEPING 
 
 I WAS sitting by the library table, mending, 
 while my husband and a business friend were 
 talking, one evening about a year ago. I heard 
 them use several new words and phrases so often 
 that I stopped to listen. 
 
 "Efficiency," I heard our caller say a dozen 
 times; '* standard practice," "motion study," 
 and "scientific management," he repeated over 
 and over again. The words suggested interest- 
 ing things, and as I listened I grew absorbed 
 and amazed. 
 
 "What are you men talking about?" I inter- 
 rupted. " I can't help being interested. Won't 
 you please tell me what 'efficiency' is, Mr. 
 Watson? What were you saying about brick- 
 laying?" 
 
 " Your husband and I were just discussing this 
 [3] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 new idea developed in business, called 'effi- 
 ciency/ or 'scientific management'/* Mr. Wat- 
 son replied. ''A group of men, Emerson and 
 Taylor among others, have come to be known in 
 the business and manufacturing world as 'effi- 
 ciency engineers.' These men are able to go 
 into a shop or factory, watch the men at work, 
 make observations and studies of motions, and 
 from these observations show where waste and 
 false movements occur and why the men lose time. 
 Then they go to work to build up the ' efficiency' 
 of that shop, so that the men do more work in less 
 time, with less waste and greater output or gain 
 to the owners, while the workers have shorter 
 hours, higher pay, and better working condi- 
 tions." 
 
 "Just how do they find out what is wrong?" 
 I asked, laying my sewing on the table, and lis- 
 tening eagerly, "and how do they actually 
 increase this 'efficiency'?" 
 
 "Well, for instance," answered Mr. Watson, 
 "this is how they improved the method of lay- 
 ing bricks: Formerly a workman stood before 
 a wall, and when he wanted to lay a brick he had 
 
 [4] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 to stoop, pick a brick weighing four and a half 
 pounds from a mixed pile at his feet, and carry 
 it to the wall. Suppose he weighed one hundred 
 and eighty pounds; that worker would have to 
 lower his one hundred and eighty pounds four 
 feet every time he picked up each of the two 
 thousand bricks he laid in a day ! Now an effi- 
 ciency expert, after watching bricklayers at 
 work, devised a simple little table which holds 
 the bricks in an orderly pile at the workman's 
 side. They are brought to him in orderly piles, 
 proper side up. Because he doesn't need to 
 stoop or sort, the same man who formerly could 
 lay only one hundred and twenty bricks an hour 
 can now lay three hundred and fifty bricks, and 
 he uses only five motions, where formerly it 
 required eighteen." 
 
 ''That sounds like a fairy tale," I laughed 
 skeptically. "What else wonderful can they 
 do with this magic wand of 'efiiciency'.^^" 
 
 "It does sound like magic," Mr. Watson re- 
 plied, "but it is only common sense. There is 
 just one best way, one shortest way to perform 
 any task involving work done with the hands, 
 
 [5] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 or the hands and head working in cooperation. 
 These efficiency men merely study to find that 
 one best and shortest way, and when they have 
 found it they call that task * standardized/ 
 Very often the efficiency is increased because 
 the task is done with fewer motions, with better 
 tools, because of even such a simple thing as 
 changing the height of a work-bench, or the 
 position of the worker." 
 
 "Yes," my husband put in, "by applying 
 the principles of efficiency, manufacturers are 
 enabled to save thousands of dollars. You 
 know, Brandeis, in the famous railroad rate hear- 
 ing at Washington, showed that if the railroads 
 would work under conditions of scientific man- 
 agement, they could save a million dollars a 
 dayr 
 
 "Why, I suppose you smart men and effi- 
 ciency experts will soon try to tell me and all 
 the other women that washing dishes can be 
 'standarized,'" I bantered, "or that we could 
 save a million dollars if we would run our homes 
 on 'scientific management'!" 
 
 "Now, Mrs. Frederick," replied Mr. Watson 
 [6] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 seriously, "that is really not too much to im- 
 agine. There is no older saying than 'woman's 
 work is never done.' If the principles of 
 efficiency can be successfully carried out in 
 every kind of shop, factory, and business, why 
 couldn't they be carried out equally well in the 
 home.?^" 
 
 ''Because," I answered, "in a factory the 
 workers do just one thing, like sewing shoes, or 
 cutting envelopes, and it is easy to standardize 
 one set of operations. But in a home there are 
 dozens, yes, hundreds, of tasks requiring totally 
 different knowledge and movements. There is 
 ironing, dusting, cooking, sewing, baking, and 
 care of children. No two tasks are alike. In- 
 stead of working as she would in a factory, at 
 one task, the home-worker peels potatoes, 
 washes dishes, and darns stockings all in the same 
 hour. Yes, and right in the midst of peeling 
 the potatoes she has to drop her knife, and see 
 why the baby is crying. 
 
 "You men simply don't understand anything 
 about work in a home," I continued, heatedly. 
 "One day a woman sweeps and dusts, and the 
 
 [7] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 next she irons, and the next she bakes, and in- 
 between-times she cares for babies, and sews, 
 answers call bells and 'phones, and markets, and 
 mends the lining of her husband's coat, and 
 makes a cocoanut cake for Sunday! 
 
 "Perhaps she can afford one maid ^ — per- 
 haps she belongs to the fortunate but very small 
 class that can afford two. But even then she 
 has to see that servants don't waste, that they 
 work the best way, and, in addition, put up with 
 their foibles, which is almost as bad as having 
 to do all the work herself. 
 
 *'Do you mean to tell me that so many kinds 
 of household tasks could be ' standardized,' or 
 that the principles of scientific management 
 could be applied in the home?" I concluded 
 a little triumphantly. "I've talked with num- 
 bers of maids, and they all have the same plaint : 
 that there are too many kinds of work to be 
 done by the same person, that they never have 
 any dependable 'off hours,' and that no two 
 families do the same task in the same way. 
 That is why they prefer to work in factories 
 where one set of operations can be standardized; 
 
 [8] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 and there you have the whole crux of the ser- 
 vant question." 
 
 Mr. Watson shifted his chair with a reahza- 
 tion that he had been put up against no simple 
 problem, nor one in which he had experience. 
 Then he answered, "Well, I hadn't considered 
 the idea before, but I believe so strongly in the 
 principles of efficiency and have seen them work 
 out so satisfactorily in every kind of shop 
 where there are different kinds of work and 
 where the owners have said just what you say, 
 that I absolutely know that these principles 
 must have application to any kind of work, and 
 that they could be carried out successfully in 
 the home if you women would only faithfully 
 apply them. 
 
 '*I must leave iiow, but I tell you what I'll 
 do. I'll come over some evening to talk to 
 you, and see what we can figure out on home 
 efficiency. I certainly don't see why you 
 couldn't work out some of its principles in a 
 mighty interesting way. Suppose you read this 
 book on scientific management?" 
 
 After Mr. Watson had gone, I turned eagerly 
 [9] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 to my husband. "George," I said, "that effi- 
 ciency gospel is going to mean a great deal to 
 modern housekeeping, in spite of some doubts I 
 have. Do you know that I am going to work 
 out those principles here in our home! I won't 
 have you men doing all the great and noble 
 things ! I'm going to find out how these experts 
 conduct investigations, and all about it, and 
 then apply it to my factory, my business, my 
 home." 
 
 The more I thought about it, the stronger hold 
 the idea took upon me. Just a few days previous 
 I had been reading an article by a prominent 
 clubwoman who was solving the servant prob- 
 lem by substituting expensive household equip- 
 ment in place of her three servants. Another 
 review discussed the number of women who were 
 living in apartments and boarding-houses, and 
 who refused to shoulder the burdens of real 
 homemaking. A third writer enlarged on the 
 lack of youthful marriages, a lack which he 
 claimed was due to the fact that young women 
 of this era refuse to enter the drudgery of 
 household tasks. On all sides it was the prob- 
 
 [10 1 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 lem of the home, the problem of housekeeping 
 and homemaking. 
 
 The home problem for the woman of wealth is 
 simple: it is solved. Money, enough of it, will 
 always buy service, just as it can procure the 
 best in any other regard. The home problem 
 for the women of the very poor is also fairly 
 simple. The women of the poor themselves 
 come from the class of servants. Their home- 
 making is far less complex, their tastes simple, 
 and society demands no appearance-standard 
 from them. Added to this, organized philan- 
 thropy is by every means teaching the women 
 of the poor how to keep house in the most scien- 
 tific, efficient manner. Settlements, domestic 
 science classes, model kitchens and tenements, 
 nursing stations, slum depots, charity boards, 
 health boards, visiting nurses, night schools, 
 and mission classes are teaching, free, the 
 women of the poor how to transmute their old- 
 world ignorance into the shining knowledge of 
 the new hemisphere. 
 
 The problem, the real issue, confronts the 
 middle-class woman of slight strength and still 
 
 [11] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 slighter means, and of whom society expects so 
 much — the wives of ministers on small salary, 
 wives of bank clerks, shoe salesmen, college pro- 
 fessors, and young men in various businesses 
 starting to make their way. They are refined, 
 educated women, many with a college or busi- 
 ness training. They have one or more babies 
 to care for, and limited finances to meet the 
 situation. 
 
 The soaring cost of living and the necessity 
 for keeping up a fair standard of appearances 
 obligatory on the middle class prevent any but 
 the more than "average" well-to-do from em- 
 ploying regular help. Among ten average fami- 
 lies I know (scattered the country over) whose 
 incomes range from $1,200 to $2,500 a year, the 
 occupations range as follows: 
 
 Two high-grade mechanics One young doctor 
 
 One salesman in photo suppHes One lawyer 
 
 One salesman in ofl&ce equipment One advertising man 
 
 One artist and illustrator One literary man 
 
 Only one family of the ten employs regular 
 help. The others depend on intermittent clean- 
 ing and a woman to do the washing. It is this 
 
 [12] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 better class of refined but small-salary-family 
 woman who becomes "all tired out," who never 
 has any "time to herself," or who is forced to 
 endure the slipshod methods of one retreating 
 Lizzie after another because she cannot afford 
 experienced help. According to figures com- 
 piled by the Business Bourse, there are 1, 677,150 
 families in the country employing domestic 
 help, while there are 19,023,952 families keeping 
 house. In other words, only 8 per cent, of the 
 families in the United States keep domestic 
 help! 
 
 Figures of the United States Census show that 
 each decade fewer women are entering service, 
 chiefly because many new and apparently more 
 attractive fields of employment are constantly 
 being opened to the class who formerly confined 
 their work to service alone. That is, there are 
 fewer servants, there will continue to be less, 
 and the wages of those few will be higher than at 
 present. 
 
 After Mr. Watson's talk on efficiency I began 
 to consider this middle class — to which I be- 
 long — and whose difficulties I faced every day. 
 
 [13 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 I had two babies and was struggling with young 
 and inexperienced help. If 'efficiency' accom- 
 plished such marvellous results for the shop and 
 factory, would it not accomplish as much for 
 my home, if I studied its principles carefully, 
 and practised them intelligently? 
 
 I determined then to give this gospel of 
 efficiency a fair trial, but first I wanted Mr. 
 Watson, himself an efficiency engineer, to ex- 
 plain it thoroughly. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Watson," I said a few evenings 
 later, *' I want you to explain the principles of effi- 
 ciency to me — the how, the why — so that I and 
 all the other homemakers can understand it fully." 
 
 "Gladly," replied Mr. Watson; "I'll begin 
 by stating the twelve principles on which the 
 science of efficiency rests: 
 
 1. 
 
 Ideals 7. 
 
 Dispatching 
 
 2. 
 
 Common Sense 8. 
 
 Scheduling 
 
 3. 
 
 Competent Counsel 9. 
 
 Reliable Records 
 
 4. 
 
 Standardized Opera- 
 
 
 
 tions 10. 
 
 Discipline 
 
 5. 
 
 Standardized Condi- 
 
 
 
 tions 11. 
 
 Fair Deal 
 
 6. 
 
 Standard Practice 12. 
 [14] 
 
 Efficiency Reward 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 "You notice that the first principle is that of 
 'ideals.' The first thing an efficiency expert 
 finds out when he wishes to improve the stand- 
 ard of a plant is, what are its ideals? What is 
 it running for? These experts say it is astound- 
 ing how many people are running businesses 
 and don't know why they are running them! 
 I sometimes think that many women don't 
 consciously know why they are running their 
 homes. The ideal should be so strong, so clearly 
 kept in mind, that it will overweigh any pres- 
 ent petty difficulties. Ideals look to the future, 
 they are the 'something' that guides, directs, 
 propels the whole machinery, whether of busi- 
 ness or the home — do you get my meaning? 
 
 ''Women do have ideals as to why they run 
 their homes," Mr. Watson continued "only they 
 are not always concretely expressed to them- 
 selves. It may be health, it may be spotless 
 cleanliness, social progress, or something else. 
 I know a woman who takes her babies out for a 
 morning's airing and leaves the parlor undusted, 
 even though she dislikes untidiness. But her 
 ideal of health comes first. Then another 
 
 [15] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 woman has turned her guest-room over to her 
 two boys for their wireless and electricity appa- 
 ratus. You know what a pretty guest-room 
 means to a woman! But this mother has such 
 a strong ideal of the future training and habits 
 of her boys that she is willing to sacrifice a 
 present pleasure for a remote end. Ideals can 
 be so strong as to buoy up, overweigh difficulty, 
 and be a vital spur to effort, in the home par- 
 ticularly. The clearer a woman's ideals, the eas- 
 ier her work, the greater her strength and success. 
 She must know the 'why' of her business. 
 
 "Common Sense is the next principle, and 
 some people think this homely term covers all 
 the principles. It is only common sense not to 
 stoop for a pot if you can hang it where you don't 
 need to stoop — and it is efficiency as well." 
 
 "And what does 'competent counsel,' mean.?" 
 I questioned. 
 
 "Competent Counsel means expert advice 
 and help. The efficiency engineers who are 
 called in to large factories to find what is wrong, 
 or suggest better methods, are one kind of com- 
 petent counsel." 
 
 [16] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 ''Yes, but there are no efficiency experts in 
 housekeeping, are there?" I inquired. 
 
 ''If the housewife would only realize it, there 
 is more expert advice being offered her free than 
 is being offered any manufacturer. Take the 
 pages in all the best publications devoted to the 
 science of home management. The finest spe- 
 cialists and experts are retained by magazines to 
 tell women how to care for babies, prepare foods, 
 how to economize and how to make clothing. 
 Both the booklets and the advertisements of 
 various advertisers inform the housewife of new 
 methods, recipes, devices, materials. The so- 
 called ' Farmers' Bulletins' issued by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture are many of them equal to a 
 correspondence course in home economics, as 
 for instance, 'Eggs and Their Uses as Food,' 
 'Economical Cuts of Meats,' which are sent free 
 to any one on application. Perhaps you do not 
 know how to use your oven properly. Large 
 corporations like the gas company and others 
 are only too glad to send a representative to tell 
 you just how to use your stove, and inform you 
 on other points. I learned the other day that 
 
 [ 17 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 it costs a certain sum an hour for the large 
 burner, so much for the small burner, and so 
 much for the little * simmerer.' This exact 
 knowledge should help one to save fuel. Demon- 
 strators of other concerns, food and household 
 shows, all act as 'competent counsel' to the 
 housewife and homemaker. 
 
 "Then comes Standardized Operations, which 
 includes the oft-mentioned 'motion study,'" 
 Mr. Watson continued. '*The homemaker takes 
 countless steps and motions in every task, many 
 of which are entirely avoidable. She may walk 
 twenty feet to hang up the egg-beater; she may 
 wash dishes in a way that wastes time and effort; 
 or she lifts separately each piece of laundry from 
 the basket at her feet, when the efficient thing 
 would be to place the whole basket at her own 
 level. Standardized conditions mean the right 
 height of work-table, proper light, ventilation, 
 and the correct tool for the purpose. In shops 
 and factories where the experts have studied 
 the manner in which work is done, and where, 
 after repeated experiment, the one best method 
 and best set of conditions has been determined, 
 
 [18] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 this best, shortest and most efficient way is 
 written down so that all workers may read it. 
 That is, the task is reduced to 'standard prac- 
 tice,' and the housekeeper can find countless 
 tasks which she can reduce to standard practice, 
 with a saving of effort, time, and vitality." 
 
 "What is this next point of * Dispatching ' .^ " 
 I asked. ''I know the best way to do a number 
 of things, but I never can plan my work so as to 
 get it done without interruption. I begin to 
 cut out a waist, and the children want a drink 
 and I have to stop and get it, and when I come 
 back my pattern and goods are all upset, and 
 I have almost forgotten what I was doing." 
 
 "There," laughed Mr. Watson, "is just where 
 you need the principles of 'dispatching,' and 
 'scheduhng.' Planning and arranging work 
 come under these points. For instance, a train 
 starts from New York at 4 p. m., and arrives at 
 Chicago the next morning at nine. The 'dis- 
 patching' consists in moving the train along so 
 that it will reach every station at the right time. 
 A^pphed to housework it would mean that there 
 was a definite regular time for each task, so that 
 
 [19] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 each task was done at a certain time in relation 
 to other tasks. You wouldn't cut out your 
 waist unless you were sure you wouldn't be 
 interrupted, you see. 
 
 " The ' Schedule' is the eighteen hours it takes 
 the train to reach Chicago, and it is based on 
 various trials and methods which enable it to 
 make Chicago in just eighteen hours and no 
 less. A housewife can find out her schedules 
 for various tasks, how long it takes to make a 
 cake, or clean the bathroom. Then, when she 
 knows her schedule, she can more accurately 
 plan or dispatch her work without fear of inter- 
 ruption." 
 
 "Very often I read some helpful article in 
 the magazines," I remarked, "but when I 
 want it, I can't find it." 
 
 "Ah, I thought so," Mr. Watson laughed. 
 "You need 'Reliable Records' in your home- 
 management, I see. We will take that up in 
 detail later. 
 
 "And if the remaining principles of 'Discip- 
 line,' 'Fair Deal' and ' Efficiency Reward ' could 
 be carried out in the home," he concluded, "I 
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
EFFICIENCY 
 
 venture to say that this whole awesome ' servant 
 problem' would be solved. One of the remark- 
 able things about scientific management is that 
 there have been few, if any, strikes in the shops 
 where its principles are in practice. The men 
 remain because they are treated fairly, and their 
 interests looked out for by the owner. 
 
 ''Ninety per cent, of servant troubles are at 
 bottom the fault of the mistress," Mr. Watson 
 declared. "Now if a woman knew and applied 
 scientifically the principle of 'fair play' her help 
 wouldn't leave her, sick, in bed, as I have heard 
 some maids have done. An efficient mistress 
 would handle her help as scientifically as the 
 manager of a big shop. She will use the prin- 
 ciple of 'efficiency reward' with her helpers, 
 and know how to secure from them that 'ini- 
 tiative' — that something over and above mere 
 work which is essential, while at the same time 
 she improves the conditions under which they 
 work." 
 
 Mr. Watson looked at me across the table. 
 "Now you understand clearly what efficiency 
 means — not expensive equipment or impracti- 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 cal theories, but simple principles of work 
 which enable you and every homemaker to do 
 her household tasks in the best way, with least 
 effort and greatest success." 
 
 "If efficiency in the home can accomplish all 
 you make me believe it can," I replied, "a new 
 housekeeping will have come, and homemaking 
 will be the greatest profession." 
 
 [22] 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
 
 APPLYING ''STANDARD PRACTICE" AND 
 **MOTION STUDY" TO HOUSE- 
 HOLD TASKS 
 
 Usually after our dinner I wash forty-eight 
 pieces of china, twenty-two pieces of silver and 
 ten utensils and pots, or eighty pieces in all; and 
 for years I never realized that I actually made 
 eighty wrong motions in the washing alone, not 
 counting others in the sorting, wiping, and laying 
 away. Like all other women I thought that 
 there couldn't be much improvement in the 
 same old task of washing dishes. 
 
 The drainboard of my sink is at the right. Now 
 imagine me at the sink, dishes in dishpan, with a 
 tray at my right to lay the dishes on when 
 washed. What do I do.^ I take up a plate 
 with my left hand and scour it back and front 
 with the dishcloth which I hold in my right hand. 
 Then I pass my left hand across my right arm, 
 away over the tray, and lay the plate on the tray. 
 
 [23] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 I move my left arm across my right arm in this 
 awkward way every time I lay a dish on the 
 tray. If I didn't do this I would have to drop 
 the cloth from my right hand and change the 
 plate from my left hand (in which I had held it 
 while washing it) to my right hand, which would 
 lay it on the tray. What else could I do.^ I 
 will tell you in a minute. 
 
 I measured the height of the bottom of my 
 sink from the floor and found it was only 24 
 inches. The sink basin was only 5 J inches deep. 
 That is why the water slopped over the pan and 
 over the edge of the sink. Besides, our builder 
 had carefully planned a dish closet over the sink 
 at the exact height to strike the top of my head 
 when I bobbed it up from my work! 
 
 Now for some other mistakes : I didn't scrape 
 my dishes thoroughly, so the water became 
 greasy very soon. I sloshed a cake of soap, 
 about in the water— particles of which stuck to 
 the edges of the dishes. I used a tray to drain 
 on, and the bottom dishes became cold and 
 sloppy before they could be dried. My towels 
 became wet, and I had to walk to the hall shelf 
 
 [24] 
 
'* STANDARD PRACTICE*' 
 
 for others. I dried the dishes and laid them on 
 the table, then I picked them up (a second 
 handling) and carried them to the pantry at the 
 far end of the kitchen. 
 
 It took me forty-five minutes to scrape, wash, 
 and dry those eighty dishes by using wrong 
 methods; now I wash the same number of pieces 
 in thirty minutes, or a gain of fifteen minutes. 
 
 How did I do it.^ I couldn't raise the sink 
 because it is built in at that height; but I raised 
 my pan four inches by placing it on an inverted 
 sink-strainer (or I might have bought a sink- 
 rack, costing 10 cents, for the same purpose). 
 Lifting the pan to a table or the top of set tubs is 
 not wise, as the pan must be lifted up and down 
 each time the water needs changing. Neither 
 could I make the sink deeper. Stupidity of 
 builders is the only reason why sinks are low 
 and shallow, and why out of sixty house and 
 apartment sinks examined recently two thirds 
 measured only from 22 to 30 inches from the 
 floor. 
 
 I have made careful tests on women of differ- 
 ent heights to find the approximate proper height 
 
 [25] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 of sink for any given height of woman. A uni- 
 form ratio seems to be in effect; for every five 
 inches diflference in the woman's height there is a 
 corresponding change of two inches and a half 
 in the proper height of sink, table, or ironing- 
 board. That is, the best height for a woman 5 
 feet 2| inches tall is 2 feet 5 inches, or 29 inches. 
 For a woman five inches taller the proper height 
 is 2 feet 7| inches, or 31j inches. I have also 
 found that the proper and best height for a table 
 is, for the same woman, the proper height for 
 the bottom of her sink to be from the floor, 
 and the best height for her ironing-board. This 
 shows that there is one best height for all work- 
 ing surfaces in the home at which the least strain 
 is felt on the arms. 
 
 The following figures will show you if your 
 ironing-board or sink or table is at the proper 
 level for your height: 
 
 Height of Proper Height of 
 
 Woman Working Surface 
 
 4 feet 10 inches 27 inches 
 
 4 " 11 " 27J " 
 
 5 " 28 " 
 
 5 " 1 " 28| " 
 
 [26] 
 
STANDARD PRACTICE 
 
 Height of 
 
 
 Woman 
 
 5 feet 2 inches 
 
 5 ' 
 
 3 * 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 4 * 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 5 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 6 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 7 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 8 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 9 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 = 10 ' 
 
 
 5 ' 
 
 11 ' 
 
 
 Proper Height of 
 
 Working Surface 
 
 29 
 
 inches 
 
 29| 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 30J 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 31i 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 32| 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 334 
 
 
 Fortunately I have been able to have my drain- 
 board changed from the right to the left of the 
 sink, which is always the one best position for a 
 drainboard. Now I pick up a plate with my 
 left hand, scour it with the cloth held in the 
 right hand, and lay the plate on the tray with 
 my left hand, without changing hands or passing 
 my left arm across my right arm. My left 
 hand is capable of repeating the ''laying-down 
 motion" very fast and very easily, while the 
 right hand never drops the cloth, but scours one 
 dish after another rapidly. Try it and see the 
 difference it makes. Had I not been able to 
 change the drainboard from right to left I might 
 
 [27] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 have wheeled a table to the left side of the sink. 
 I also bought a wire dish-drainer costing 50 
 cents, and a soap-shaker, a dish-mop and a plate- 
 scraper costing 10 cents each. Then I carefully 
 separated the whole process into three opera- 
 tions: scraping and stacking, washing, drying 
 and laying away. 
 
 My first step was: Pots and pans filled with 
 water. Dishes scraped with plate-scraper and 
 stacked as to size, at right of worker. Towels 
 to hand, hot suds made in pan by soap-shaker. 
 
 My second step was: Glassware placed in 
 pan, washed with mop or small-handled brush 
 in right hand, lifted to drain-rack with left hand. 
 Silver placed to soak in pan while glass is dried, 
 sorted, placed on tray and carried to place. 
 Repeat process with silver, drying and sorting on 
 to tray at the same time, and remove to place. 
 
 My third step was: Dishes of same kind 
 placed in pan, washed, lifted out by left hand 
 to dish-drainer. Pour scalding water on dishes 
 in drainer, and leave to dry without wiping, 
 while the pots and pans are scoured with a com- 
 bination wire-bristle brush. If there is a hot- 
 
"'standard practice" 
 
 water faucet a method that saves still more 
 steps and time is to attach a foot or two of 
 rubber hose and spray the dishes from the nozzle. 
 Dishes are dry by the time pots are finished. 
 Lift dishes from drainer, sort and stack on to 
 tray, and carry to place. Hang up pots, pans, 
 and all utensils. Rinse out towels and hang to 
 dry. 
 
 Note, please, that my drainer is at my left and 
 the dishes are stacked to the right, (The ideal 
 arrangement is a drainboard on each side of the 
 sink.) This will make a difference of ten min- 
 utes on a task requiring forty-five minutes. 
 Note also that dishes, and particularly silver, 
 are sorted as laid down on the tray. Note 
 that the drainer does away with all wiping of 
 the dishes. This cuts the time down consider- 
 ably and saves the necessity of rubbing each 
 piece with a dish-towel of doubtful cleanliness. 
 While the dishes are drying the pots are cleaned 
 with a wire-bristle brush. 
 
 "Don^t you wipe the dishes at all.^^" some 
 woman will ask. What is the use, when it is 
 unnecessary and takes useless time? The glass 
 
 [29] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 must be wiped, of course, because very hot 
 water cannot be poured on it; silver must be 
 wiped, because it doesn't dry itself as china 
 does. Rinsing in scalding water gives china a 
 better gloss than hand polishing. 
 
 I have thus worked out for myself a "stand- 
 ard practice" method of dishwashing which I 
 have described in detail to show how any house- 
 hold task can be studied, analyzed, and separated 
 into two or three simple processes. By doing 
 dishwashing in this best, or ''standard," way, 
 I am able to do it quicker, more easily, and with- 
 out awkward, useless motions. 
 
 In housekeeping, just as in other industries, 
 "motion study" means close analysis of work, 
 whether it is peeling potatoes, making bread, 
 or dusting a room. By this careful observation 
 of how I do my work, I find what motions are 
 efficient motions, and what motions are unneces- 
 sary and inefficient. 
 
 There is nothing difficult or mysterious about 
 "motion study." Everything we do is motions, 
 whether we stand or stoop; every task is com- 
 posed of motions or groups of motions; if the 
 
 [30] 
 
STANDARD PRACTICE" 
 
 motions are few, easy and pleasant, the task is 
 easy; if the motions are useless and fatiguing, 
 the task is drudgifying. The whole object of 
 "motion study" in the home is to analyze the 
 way we do each task so that we may learn to do 
 it in the way that is most pleasant and least 
 fatiguing. 
 
 Another general task is cleaning, and I next 
 studied how I worked on my general cleaning 
 day to see if I could improve my methods. I 
 had been accustomed to clean windows, sweep 
 the rugs, and wipe and dust the furniture of each 
 room separately. On noticing carefully what I 
 did, I found that cleaning was composed of four 
 or more processes requiring many kinds of 
 motions, and the use of different utensils, such 
 as broom, duster, mop, and pail. Particularly 
 these processes required change of position, and 
 were totally unrelated. That is, first I swept, 
 standing upright; then I ran for water and 
 window-rags, and cleaned windows, sitting. 
 Then dropping these tools I wiped floors with 
 water or with an oiled rag, on my knees; and 
 last I stood up or bent over to do the dusting. 
 
 [31] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 I lost time whenever I laid down or picked up 
 utensils, or whenever I changed my ** shift" 
 from one task to another; and it took some time 
 to change my speed from sweeping to scrubbing, 
 for instance. 
 
 What did I do? The simplest thing. First, 
 I changed the window cleaning to a different 
 afternoon entirely, as it is an unrelated task 
 and need not be loaded on to the general clean- 
 ing day. Then I did the sweeping of all the 
 rooms first, and carried the utensils in that work 
 to the kitchen. Next I wiped all the floors 
 and carried the pail, etc., to the kitchen. Last 
 I dusted one room after another. By specializ- 
 ing these tasks in this simple way I just naturally 
 speeded up on each one and finished the work 
 more rapidly, by at least twenty minutes, than 
 if I had cleaned each room and done each task 
 separately. 
 
 Our washing is done at home, as it is done in 
 many homes, without a washing machine, and 
 with only a common boiler. I next studied to 
 see if I could find any improvement in the 
 method of this common task. I noted that a 
 
 [32 1 
 
"standard practice" 
 
 great deal of time was lost in handling clothes 
 which had not been properly sorted before the 
 washing. Then, as I put all the clothes through 
 the blue rinsing water, I noticed that I lifted 
 up each piece from the water, and opened it out, 
 particularly the smaller pieces. ''Why do I lift 
 each piece like this?" I said to myself, "and is 
 it necessary .f^" The answer was that I lifted 
 each piece out of the water to see if it were a 
 piece to be starched or not. I decided there 
 must be some way to avoid this repeated motion 
 of lifting each piece, and after a little experi- 
 menting I soaked the starched pieces in one tub 
 and the unstarched pieces in another tub before 
 washing. Then I boiled all unstarched white 
 pieces first, then rinsed them and placed them in 
 a basket to be hung up. Then I washed and 
 boiled all starched pieces separately, and rinsed 
 and hung them up. I saved more than fifteen 
 minutes by washing the two different kinds of 
 clothes separately, because it previously took 
 me that time to hold up each piece and decide 
 whether it was to be starched or not — just lost 
 
 [33 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 In ironing, I found that my board, just like 
 the sink, was not at the right height. It was 
 so high that I couldn't obtain enough purchase 
 on my iron without extra eflPort. I simply 
 lowered the board, made it very steady, and 
 thus helped my efficiency. Even to-day so 
 many women use the poor and inefficient method 
 of supporting an ironing-board upon the back of 
 a chair and the table, where it is always shaky, 
 instead of using a good board on a stand capable 
 of adjustment to various heights. 
 
 In ironing I followed the same idea of special- 
 ization: all starched pieces first, all flat pieces 
 last. It is this separation and specialization 
 that enable the worker to "speed up" as no 
 other plan allows. 
 
 I noticed that when I sprinkled clothes I first 
 piled them all on a table, dampened each piece, 
 rolled it and stooped to lay each separate piece 
 in the clothes-basket at my feet — an unneces- 
 sary motion for each of the dozens of pieces! 
 I now place the basket on a high chair beside 
 me, level with my table, and never stoop. 
 
 I found I was making the same mistake when 
 [34] 
 
"standard practice" 
 
 I hung up the clothes, stooping for each piece 
 in the basket to hang it up. I found I could 
 stand between two lines and fill both alternately 
 without waste motion. The clothes-basket I 
 wheeled about in an abandoned go-cart ' — 
 motion, effort and time saved — which kept the 
 basket at the level of my waist instead of my 
 feet. 
 
 Even the simplest one-process tasks may be 
 standardized, and a better way found which will 
 entail less waste motion, which means waste 
 vitality. One of the most common of tasks 
 is to beat eggs, whip cream, or mix a cake batter. 
 In each of these cases, the general way is to have 
 the ingredients in a bowl, using the right hand to 
 beat or manipulate the spoon or egg whip, while 
 the left hand holds the bowl steady. We have 
 become so accustomed to steadying a bowl in 
 this way, with the left hand, that we can hardly 
 believe such a method is extremely inefficient. 
 It requires a strong and steady hold on the bowl 
 to keep it at the proper slant or purchase for 
 beating its contents. Why waste energy in 
 keeping a utensil in place when we can easily 
 
 [35] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 clamp any bowl or glass churn to the table, and 
 save the wasted motion of holding the utensil in 
 place for the real task of beating or whipping? 
 Yet I could multiply instances where a woman 
 mashes potatoes, strains apple sauce or puree, 
 or beats mayonnaise, using a great deal of energy 
 to steady the bowl in her left hand when she 
 might use this wasted motion on the real task 
 of the right hand. 
 
 In connection with the sink and the ironing- 
 board I have mentioned the height of the 
 working surface as most important. No less 
 important is the comfortable position of the 
 worker. I should lay it down as a cardinal 
 principle of efficient work, to sit down to it, 
 rather than stand, whenever possible. One 
 can prepare all vegetables, make cake or pie, 
 wash dishes and iron sitting down. When one 
 is standing there is a strain to keep the body up- 
 right; when the body is seated this strain or 
 motion is removed, and that much effort put 
 at the service of the real task in hand. 
 
 Another form of waste motion occurs in the 
 bringing together of the proper ingredients, 
 
 [36 1 
 
''standard practice" 
 
 utensils and materials in one place, before the 
 real task begins. The efficiency engineers who 
 study conditions in factories watch a man at 
 work. They note how much time it takes him 
 to do the actual work. They time him on how 
 long it takes him to bring his tools together, and 
 how long it takes him to put the finished work 
 away. 
 
 Supposing it should take a man ten minutes 
 to do a piece of work. If he does it in ten min- 
 utes, he will have an efficiency of approximately 
 100 per cent. But if it takes him four unneces- 
 sary minutes to bring his tools together, or to lay 
 his work away, his efficiency will be lowered 
 to 71 per cent. The whole aim, of course, is to 
 have the efficiency of the worker as near 100 
 per cent, as possible. 
 
 I know dozens of women who would be graded 
 100 per cent, on the actual time they take in 
 making a cake, or doing other tasks; but they 
 waste motion — and hence time — bringing 
 utensils and materials together before they begin 
 the actual task; instead of grouping flour and 
 flavouring, baking-powder, eggs and sugar all 
 
 [37] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 on the table at once, they beat the eggs, then 
 stop and get the sugar, then reach for the 
 flavouring, and possibly have to go for the for- 
 gotten cup of milk in the icebox. 
 
 Another most important cause of waste 
 motion in the kitchen is poor arrangement of 
 utensils, not only with regard to a particular 
 task, but with regard to all tasks, and other 
 equipment. This is a point given great emphasis 
 by efficiency engineers. Whole factories have 
 been remodelled so that the machines could be 
 in a right position, not only for the individual 
 worker, but in right relation to other equip- 
 ment and processes of the factory. 
 
 This idea is especially applicable to the home. 
 Perhaps you have a bread board of just the right 
 height for your work — but where is its right 
 position in your kitchen in relation to other 
 utensils and to other tasks you have to do.^^ 
 You may have the finest egg and cream whip, 
 but where do you hang it, so that it is in just 
 the right relation to all your other equipment.'^ 
 And do you have to walk twenty feet for it when 
 you need it.^ This point of efficiency in arrange- 
 
 [38] 
 
"standard practice" 
 
 ment is so vital and extensive that I want to 
 take a whole chapter to discuss it. 
 
 When we have studied a task, and stand- 
 ardized it, we have found out, not only the best 
 method of doing that task, but the time that best 
 method requires — how long it will take us to 
 do that task. The object of all standardization 
 is really, then, to find out the shortest way, 
 as well as the best way. Standardization im- 
 plies skill, and the rapidity that comes from 
 practice. In music we see that this is partic- 
 ularly true, because by holding the hands in 
 just the right way, the performer has so stand- 
 ardized his work that he is able to play hundreds 
 of notes a minute. 
 
 In shops and factories the efficiency engineers 
 make "time studies" of the work of the men, 
 down to the fraction of a second, and on these 
 studies the wages of the men are determined. 
 Such detail is not needed in the home, but the 
 object of our standardization in the home also 
 is to find out the shortest, or more properly the 
 average, time it takes us to perform any given 
 task. When I know how long it takes me to do 
 
 [39] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 some of my common tasks, I can the better plan 
 my entire work along "schedule" lines. 
 
 Here is a list of some of the common tasks I 
 do, and how long each requires, working under 
 ' ' standard" conditions : 
 
 Task 
 Baby's bath 
 Working bread 
 
 (3 operations) 
 Mix layer cake 
 Ice layer cake . 
 Salad dressing 
 Pudding or dessert 
 Dust, brush up 
 
 five small rooms daily 
 Mix pan of muffins 
 Mix pan of biscuit 
 Make pie 
 Polish silver 
 Clean bathroom 
 
 Time required 
 15 minutes 
 
 12 minutes 
 10 minutes 
 
 5 minutes 
 15 minutes 
 
 12-15 minutes 
 
 30 minutes 
 
 6 minutes 
 8 minutes 
 
 10-12 minutes 
 40 minutes 
 20 minutes 
 
 A last cause of waste motion is the use of the 
 inefficient or wrong tool. I have often used a 
 chopping bowl and knife, and it took me seven 
 minutes to chop one pound of cooked meat. 
 The person using a chopping knife raises and 
 lowers his knife as he chops, and half the time 
 
 [40] 
 
"'standard practice" 
 
 he is not chopping meat, but air. Now with a 
 meat choppec of family size I can grind three 
 pounds of meat in one minute. That is because 
 I am grinding meat all the time, and air none of 
 the time, and because there is no wasted motion 
 of raised and lowered arm fifty times or more. 
 
 It is very often true that an improved labour- 
 saver or household device is able to standardize 
 work better than any method. This is true of 
 a chopper, of a vacuum cleaner, which takes the 
 place of both broom and duster; of a gas or elec- 
 tric iron, which saves the repeated motion of 
 changing irons, and of other equipment. But 
 too many women put over-emphasis on the tool 
 and too little on themselves. If a woman is 
 inefficient, how can she use a tool except in an 
 inefficient way? I believe strongly that wom- 
 an's liberation from drudgery lies not so much 
 in tools as in her own improved methods of 
 work. 
 
 A strong reason why the tool is not as impor- 
 tant as more efficient working methods is that 
 while some women can afford a vacuum cleaner 
 or electric motor or other excellent tool, hun- 
 
 [41] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 dreds and thousands of women cannot afford 
 them and other devices, even though they wish 
 to use them. But any one of these thousands 
 of women can reduce the drudgery of their work, 
 by better planning, more inteUigent systematiz- 
 ing, and observation and experiment with their 
 work and how they do it, until they have raised 
 it to a greater skill — to " standard practice." 
 
 For instance, in improving my method of 
 dishwashing, I did buy several small tools to 
 render the work more efficient. But was that 
 the main factor in making the work easier, and 
 causing it to require less time.^ The important 
 thing was the way the dishes were handled, the 
 position of the sink, the height of the sink, the 
 method of sorting, etc. 
 
 It might be argued that it is useless, anyway, 
 to reduce dishwashing or any other task to a 
 "standard practice," because there are mechani- 
 cal dishwashers and devices which will event- 
 ually replace all hand washing — that, in short, 
 the tool is the salvation of the housekeeper, and 
 not standard practice methods. 
 
 But while one woman is able to afford such a 
 [42 1 
 
"standard practice" 
 
 device, thousands of other women are not able 
 to afford all the labour-savers on the market. 
 Moreover, no matter how perfect may be a 
 mechanical labour-saver, human hands must 
 bring the dishes to it, take them out, lay them 
 away — in short, operate this device or any 
 other; and whether the worker performs all the 
 operations by hand or operates a machine, the 
 principles of efficiency are the same, and the 
 more deftly she handles her tool the greater her 
 speed and output. 
 
 From closely watching myself and others at 
 work, I have grouped the causes which make for 
 80 per cent, of the inefficiency in household 
 tasks, as follows: 
 
 1. The worker does not have all the needful tools 
 or utensils at hand before her when she begins work. 
 Therefore 
 
 2. She wastes time and effort walking to, hunting 
 for or fetching ingredients, tools or materials she neg- 
 lected to have at hand when she began the task. 
 
 3. She stops in the middle of one task to do something 
 else quite unrelated. 
 
 4. She lowers the efficiency of good work by losing 
 time putting tools or work away, generally due to poor 
 arrangement of kitchen, pantry, and closets. 
 
 [43] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 5. She uses a poor tool, or a wrong one; or works 
 at a table, sink, ironing-board or moulding-board of the 
 wrong height from the floor. 
 
 6. She loses time because she does not keep sufficient 
 supplies on hand, and because she does not keep her 
 tools and utensils in good condition. 
 
 Any worker who desires to eliminate waste 
 motion, standardize her tasks, and increase her 
 efficiency 50 per cent., can ask herself these 
 questions : 
 
 1. Is my table, stool, board, or working surface at the 
 
 right height? 
 
 2. Are my utensils and materials needed for this task 
 
 all before me when I begin? 
 
 3. Do I have to stoop unnecessarily? Do I take 
 
 useless steps? 
 
 4. Are my utensils arranged with proper regard to 
 
 each other, and to other tasks? 
 
 5. Do I waste motion and energy holding a bowl or 
 
 utensil in place when it should be screwed to the 
 table? 
 
 6. Is my position comfortable? 
 
 7. Are the tools and utensils grouped properly before 
 
 me for this particular task? 
 
 8. Am I using the best and right tool for the purpose? 
 
 9. Is the tool properly adjusted and in good condition 
 
 before I begin work? 
 
 10. Am I making any awkward motions, or ones I 
 
 could omit? 
 
 [44] 
 
''standard practice" 
 
 Since much inefficiency and waste motion is 
 due to poor arrangement of the kitchen and its 
 fittings, I will devote the next chapter to dis- 
 cussing "Standardized Conditions" in kitchen 
 arrangement. 
 
 [45] 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
 
 STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS IN 
 KITCHEN ARRANGEMENT 
 
 1 RECALL a young bride who recently showed me 
 her new kitchen. "Isn't it a beauty?" she ex- 
 claimed. It certainly had modern appliances 
 of every kind. But her stove was in a recess of 
 the kitchen at one end. Her pantry was twenty 
 feet away at the opposite end. Every time she 
 wanted to use a frying pan she had to walk 
 twenty feet to get it, and, after using it, she 
 had to walk twenty feet to put it away. I 
 know blocks and blocks of houses in a city over 
 100,000 population which are all built that way. 
 When I see such a kitchen I am reminded of the 
 barker I once heard outside of a country circus. 
 "Ladies and gentlemen," he was calling, "come 
 in and see the great African crocodile. It meas- 
 ures 18 feet from the tip of its nose to the tip 
 of its tail, and 18 feet from the tip of its tail to 
 
 [46 1 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 the tip of its nose, making in all, ladies and 
 gentlemen, a grand total of 36 feet." How 
 many women are "making a grand total" of 
 thirty-six steps every time they hang up the 
 egg-beater? 
 
 The first step toward the efficiency of any 
 kitchen is to have the kitchen small, compact, 
 and without long narrow pantries and closets. 
 Many women are under the impression that a 
 *' roomy" kitchen is desirable. It may appear 
 attractive, but a careful test of the way work is 
 done in a "roomy" kitchen will discover waste 
 spaces between the equipment, and hence waste 
 motion between the work. Country kitchens 
 are particularly apt to be large, and are often 
 a combined sitting-room and kitchen. This 
 plan seems cosy, but is inefficient because of the 
 presence of lounges, flowers, and sewing — all 
 unrelated to the true work of the kitchen, which 
 is the preparing of food. It is much wiser to 
 have the kitchen small, and make a separate 
 sitting-room so that the tired cook may rest in 
 a room other than the one in which she has 
 worked. 
 
 [47] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 A good-sized kitchen for a small-sized house 
 is 10 X 12; the ideal is nearly square, or only 
 slightly longer than wide. After deciding that 
 our kitchen must be small, the next step in 
 standardizing its arrangement is to place the 
 principal equipment of stove, sink, tables, and 
 closet sin right relation to each other and the 
 processes they develop. In planning for any 
 kitchen I have found, after close study, that 
 there are just two main processes in all kitchen 
 work. Every task done, peeling potatoes or 
 washing a skillet, can be divided clearly under 
 one or the other group. One group is those 
 processes which prepare the meal; the second 
 group is those processes which clear away the 
 meal. Each of these processes covers distinct 
 equipment. The reason for so much inefficiency 
 in kitchen work is almost solely because these 
 two processes are not kept separate, and be- 
 cause, particularly, the equipment of each proc- 
 ess is not kept together, 
 
 I want to explain this idea in detail, because 
 it is so very important, although so very simple, 
 as every intelligent woman will see if she 
 
 [48] 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 only stops to think. Let me state it in this 
 way: 
 
 Preparing Meal 
 
 1. Prepar- 
 ing 
 
 Group I /All foods 
 
 2. Cooking I 
 
 S. Serving 
 
 Clearing Meal 
 1. Removing 
 
 Group II ' ^ Vutensils 
 
 8. Laying I dishes 
 away 
 
 Equipment 
 
 1. Icebox, pantry, 
 table, kitchen- 
 cabinet 
 
 2. Stove, utensils 
 ,3. Table, trays 
 
 1. Trays, tables 
 
 '2. Sink, drain 
 
 '3. Closets, pan- 
 try, icebox 
 
 Suppose, for instance, we wish to make an 
 omelet. We take eggs and milk from the ice- 
 box or pantry (follow diagram), beat it at a table, 
 cook on stove, serve on platter, and take to 
 dining-room. This is the preparing process of 
 this dish, and is the simplest method we can 
 follow. On the return trip, or the processes of 
 clearing away, I take the empty platter from the 
 dining-room to the kitchen sink, wash it, and 
 lay it away. 
 
 [49] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Now if the kitchen table, stove, and sink are 
 in the right relation to each other, we can make 
 our omelet or any other dish with the least 
 possible number of steps, motion, time, and 
 fatigue. But if the stove, sink, and tables are 
 not in right relation to each other, it will require 
 twice as much energy to cook and serve our 
 omelet. 
 
 The definite equipment of the processes of 
 Group I come in order this way : 
 
 Icebox — preparing table — stove — serving 
 table — dining-room. 
 
 The definite equipment of the processes of 
 Group II come in this order: 
 
 Sink table — sink-drain — china and dish 
 closets. 
 
 In my small kitchen, therefore, I have ar- 
 ranged the equipment as follows: first, at the 
 south, an icebox, then a kitchen cabinet, then 
 the stove, and last a small serving table. At 
 the other side of the room come, first to left, 
 china shelves, then sink, and last at right, sink 
 table. 
 
 [50] 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 To make my omelet, I take materials from 
 icebox, turn a step to right, where I beat it on 
 surface of cabinet, turn one more step to right 
 for stove, and a last step to right lays it on the 
 serving table, when I can carry it to kitchen. 
 On the return trip I take the soiled platter 
 from dining-room directly to sink table, wheel 
 left to sink, left to drain, and last, left to closet 
 shelves. 
 
 I have drawn two diagrams which show the 
 making of an omelet under two arrangements of 
 equipment. One is a steady track from icebox 
 to dining-room; the other is a crossing and 
 recrossing like the tracks of a hound after a hare. 
 
 I have dwelt at length on this point, because 
 it is the first vital point, the heart, or crux, of the 
 whole matter of ''step-taking." It is so easy 
 to have the equipment in right relations, but 
 how many kitchens there are where the sink is 
 next the pantry, where it is useless; where the 
 stove and sink are adjacent; where the china 
 shelves and the stove are alongside, with noth- 
 ing to do with each other. Efficiency engineers 
 who have been called in to standardize the tasks 
 
 [ 51 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 in factories have, after examination, found that 
 each separate operation was being done very 
 well; but time and recrossing of materials re- 
 sulted in waste, because the main equipment was 
 not in right relation to other processes in the 
 same room or the same building. 
 
 In general, I should lay down these simple 
 rules for a right-handed person: 
 
 1. Icebox or pantry to left of preparing table; 
 stove to right of working table, and serving 
 table to right of stove. 
 
 2. Sink table to right of sink; drain to left 
 of sink; closet or china shelves to left of drain. 
 
 As the next step in our standardization it is 
 important that every bit of the main equip- 
 ment, the sink, stove, cabinet top, and tables, 
 are at the right height for the worker. Only 
 at the right height can there be ease in working 
 at their surfaces. The table found in chapter 
 two will help any woman find the best height for 
 herself; or she can by actual experiment of hold- 
 ing a pan on a small table, which a second person 
 lowers and raises, adjust the most comfortable 
 place for her arms to hold the pan or bowl. 
 
 [521 
 
CABINET 
 
 
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 CI ee 
 
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 fc, .Sis cS 
 Qj a V V 
 
 Jh c o I 
 
 
 TABI^EJ 
 
 A-v 
 
 W^^l 
 
 pqN 
 
 \ 
 
 <\ 
 
 V-^^< 
 
 fp\ 
 
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 05 
 
 CO 
 
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 CHIM/^ 
 
 4^" C 
 
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 cr 
 
 0* 
 
 .^4 JQ 5 s S 
 
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 &c 
 
 g=a^& 
 
 .2 1^ =* 1. 
 
 a a 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 After this comes the arrangement, or group- 
 ing, of small utensils in proper relation to the 
 larger processes to which they belong. That is, 
 there is a process of preparing, a process of 
 cooking, and a third of serving any food. Now 
 there are small utensils which are distinctly re- 
 lated to each group, and these should never be 
 placed with the utensils of another group. In 
 preparing food we use can-opener, cleaver, egg- 
 beater, and bread knife. These should be hung 
 near the preparing table or cabinet top. The 
 special small cooking utensils are skimmer, pan- 
 cake turner, and long fork and large spoon, 
 which should be hung near or over the stove. 
 Last, the serving tools are the colander, strainers, 
 and similar utensils; these should be over or 
 near the serving table. Too often the utensils 
 are all hung together, or jumbled in a drawer. 
 Why reach across the stove for the potato 
 masher when it belongs over the table? Why 
 walk to the cabinet for the pancake turner when 
 you need it for the stove? A second reason here 
 comes in for the efficient relation of the main 
 equipment: not only will rightly related equip- 
 
 [53 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 merit save steps in the main processes of cooking 
 and serving, but it saves steps in the handHng of 
 each and every part of the small equipment. 
 In other words, if your stove and sink are 
 wrongly placed your egg-beater and can-opener 
 will be wrongly placed. Almost invariably the 
 efficiency of the small pieces depends on the 
 efficient relation of the large pieces. 
 
 Therefore the pots, pans, skillets, and essen- 
 tial cooking utensils should be grouped near 
 the stove, not across near the sink or the china. 
 So the mixing bowls and all cake, muffin, and 
 bread pans should be near the working table. 
 The china, I have said, should be on shelves in 
 closets in the group with the sink, so that it can 
 be laid directly on the shelves as soon as washed, 
 and not dragged twenty feet to a distant pantry. 
 
 This matter of arrangement concerns not 
 only the utensils and equipment, but the gro- 
 ceries and foods needed in the kitchen. It is 
 just as wasteful of energy to walk ten unneces- 
 sary feet for a box of cereal as it is to walk the 
 same unnecessary distance for the can-opener. 
 I believe a kitchen cabinet is the best form of 
 
 [54] 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 step-saver in this respect, as it contains places 
 for sugar, flour, tea and coffee, cereals, and small 
 package goods. A person sitting at its mould- 
 ing surface can reach all foods needed in the 
 preparation of many dishes, without getting up 
 or down. 
 
 No kitchen can be standardized if there is 
 not a definite place for each article. Nothing 
 must be overcrowded, nothing jostled with other 
 articles. The strip of leather over a cobbler's 
 bench has always impressed me — there are so 
 many little pockets, in such little space, and 
 every tool in its own niche. 
 
 Although it is included in the point of the 
 right height of surface, I wish to emphasize 
 the point of all utensils being at the right height, 
 or at least, not too low nor too high for comfort 
 in reaching. This means that most utensils 
 should be on shelves, or hung at a comfortable 
 height. Pot lids can be slipped in a rack on the 
 wall, pots can be set on shelves above or near the 
 stove at a convenient reaching height. There is 
 positively no need for stooping to the floor for 
 any utensil. 
 
 [55] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 I wish now to discuss another phase of the 
 standardization of the kitchen, and take up the 
 Hght, ventilation, and surface furnishing of the 
 standardized kitchen. I was surprised the other 
 day to see the advertisement of a large factory 
 building, with halftone of the building whose 
 walls were solid panes of glass windows. On a 
 visit to the largest publishing plant, I was struck 
 by the overhead, brilliant light on the pressmen. 
 Our kitchen cannot be efficient if there is poor 
 and badly directed light on the worker and her 
 work. It would seem as if builders just stuck 
 in a window for pleasure, or for a joke, without 
 any relation to the idea that work, and work 
 requiring scrupulous cleanliness, was going on 
 behind that window. The light should come 
 from the side of the worker, if possible, and cer- 
 tainly the worker should never stand in his own 
 light. The placing of artificial light is just as 
 important, and there is nothing more distress- 
 ing than to cook in one's own shadow. Every 
 kitchen task, washing a cream pitcher, picking 
 over a salad, needs the most excellent light to 
 insure the task being done in a sanitary way. 
 
 [56] 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 Cooking almost always necessitates the pres- 
 ence of some odour in the room. The very 
 combustion of the fuel, not to mention the cook- 
 ing of the food, makes an odour. The kitchen 
 suffers most from the contamination of its air 
 by odours — which decrease the amount of 
 oxygen — and that is why the cook has a 
 headache so often! The windows should allow 
 plenty of ventilation; large stoves can be fitted 
 with an iron hood to carry off the odours; 
 ventilators can be fitted into the flue, or ventilat- 
 ing fans operated by a current. Ventilation is 
 part of compulsory factory law, and it cer- 
 tainly needs the attention of the efficient home- 
 maker in her home. 
 
 The floor covering of the kitchen should allow 
 complete and easy washing; the surface should 
 not be covered with any porous material which 
 will absorb or stain with grease. Linoleum, tile, 
 and a new cork material very restful to the feet 
 are the best coverings; wood is too porous, and 
 turns dark and ugly with washing. The base- 
 board should be curved, rather than square, to 
 avoid unsanitary cracks. The walls and ceiling 
 
 [57] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 are best painted, or covered with washable 
 Sanitas, both of which materials allow perfect 
 washing. All the woodwork and trim should 
 be of hard wood, with a finish that allows fre- 
 quent and easy washing. The colour of the 
 kitchen should be chosen with an eye to light, 
 cheer, and coolness; hence light tones of green, 
 tan, and blue make the most attractive kitchens. 
 The most important point in the choice of 
 fittings for the kitchen is that of "washability." 
 I have been through the kitchens of one of the 
 largest manufacturers of canned soups and simi- 
 lar products, the walls, floors, and ceilings of 
 which were spotless tile — not only for looks, 
 but because a tile surface can be washed, and 
 sterilized if need be. It is impossible to achieve 
 this result in our individual homes ; but our ideal 
 of the standardized kitchen fittings must be 
 chairs, and tables with straight legs, avoidance 
 of crannies and cracks which will gather dirt or 
 make a choice breeding place for our friend the 
 roach. Open plumbing, tables covered with zinc, 
 galvanized iron, or porcelain, are all essential to 
 the sanitation of the standardized kitchen. 
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 
 
 To summarize, our standardized kitchen must 
 have its main equipment placed in the right 
 relation to the processes each entails; the small 
 equipment of each related group must be hung 
 or placed with the larger equipment of which it 
 is a part; all working surfaces should be at the 
 right height for the worker; all dry supplies, 
 pots, utensils, and crockery must be kept in the 
 closest relation to the work in which they are 
 needed; all shelves and hooks should be at or 
 above the waist of the worker, to avoid either 
 stooping or reaching; all the furnishings of the 
 kitchen, the walls, the floor, the tables and 
 chairs should be of a kind to allow perfect 
 cleansing; proper and sufiicient light and ventila- 
 tion are essential to the success and comfort of 
 the work and the worker. 
 
 In the following chapter I want to tell you 
 how to choose the right tools for your work. 
 
 [59] 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
 THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 lERHAPS the reader recalls the cheap old 
 story of the Irish servant who left her place be- 
 cause she complained that there was hash to 
 prepare for breakfast every morning, and she 
 had to leave because her teeth wouldn't stand it ! 
 
 I think we would agree that this servant was 
 using the wrong tool. Some women to-day are 
 still using the wrong tool, although the manu- 
 facture and sale of improved equipment for the 
 home are among America's foremost industries. 
 The modern housekeeper in this country cannot 
 complain that improved devices are not offered 
 her; every magazine page, thousands of booklets, 
 department store and hardware demonstrations, 
 put her in touch with tools, labour-savers, and 
 household devices of remarkable variety in 
 purposes, quality, and construction. 
 
 It would seem as if the increase in the pro- 
 [60] 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 duction of labour-savers for the home was in 
 direct ratio to the decrease in the number of 
 human servants. I beheve this is true; investi- 
 gation in foreign countries at the present time 
 where service is still cheap shows that not half 
 the number of devices are sold abroad as in this 
 country. When the American homemaker, be- 
 cause of economy and scarcity, is forced to dis- 
 pense with service, and do the work herself, 
 she turns to the mechanical servant which every 
 manufacturer is urging her to buy, and which 
 Yankee ingenuity has perfected in a high degree. 
 The question before the homemaker is not 
 whether she shall use tools, but what tools are 
 most efficient for her particular household 
 needs .f^ 
 
 Many household devices sold in recent years 
 have been made only to sell, although I believe 
 firmly that the bulk of those now on the market 
 are offered because they are of sterling quality. 
 But the first question the homemaker must ask 
 herself is not, "Is this a good tool.?" but, "Do 
 I actually need it?" I have noticed that many 
 women have an apparent mild mania for pur- 
 
 [61] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 chasing tools and pots and pans which they 
 don't use. Their pantries are cluttered with 
 egg-beaters, cake-turners, fancy jelly moulds, 
 and cake-pans which are rarely used. They 
 are attracted by the cleverness and cheapness 
 of a new device, and buy it at once, with the 
 result of a duplication of unused trash. One 
 woman laughingly acknowledged, when I found 
 six egg-beaters in her kitchen, that her god was 
 ''Pan." 
 
 In choosing a larger and more expensive equip- 
 ment, like a percolator, an electric iron, or a 
 cherry-seeder, the homemaker should ask her- 
 self the same question, "Do I need it? Will I 
 get my investment out of it? " I recall recently 
 going through a department store basement and 
 looking at equipment and the clerk showed me 
 what he called a bean-cutter. It was an amaz- 
 ing mechanism, which cut string beans in half 
 lengthwise. When I think of the buying of 
 any tool my mind reverts to that bean-cutter. 
 How many times a year would I have used it? 
 And where would I have kept it when not in 
 use? The cutter, in a boarding-house or hotel, 
 
 [62 I 
 
FUEL-SAVERS 
 
 (1) Portable Oven with Window Prevents Loss of Heat 
 
 (2) Device Utilizing One Burner for Baking 
 
 (3) Gasolene Iron with Concentrated Heating Surface 
 
 (4) Tea Kettle and Double Boiler Combined 
 
 (5) Well-Insulated Fuel-Saving Fireless Cooker 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 would doubtless have paid the cost of its invest- 
 ment; but in my small family, where string 
 beans are confined to a short few weeks' season, 
 a bean-cutter would have been dead invest- 
 ment, and dead storage. 
 
 Buying any tool should be considered as an 
 investment, although not all women look at it 
 in this proper way. A manufacturer who pur- 
 chases new equipment charges it to ''plant," 
 and distributes the expense along a number of 
 years. The same view should be taken of an 
 investment in a household labour-saver. For 
 instance, an electric iron, costing $6 and which 
 would last five years, should be reckoned as 
 interest on the investment, or about 36 cents a 
 year: the depreciation might be 10 per cent, or 
 60 cents so that the yearly cost should be esti- 
 mated at about 96 cents a year, or less than 2 
 cents a week. It is almost certain that the iron 
 will pay for this weekly cost, because it is used 
 weekly, and will save that amount and more in 
 the economy of fuel and labour in the weekly 
 ironing. But suppose some other electric device, 
 like a waffle-iron costing $10, is bought, and is 
 
 [63] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 used only a few weeks in each season; how many 
 years of waffles will it take to make up the in- 
 vestment to her? I use this illustration, not 
 to knock any particular device, but to show that 
 the purchaser must stop and consider if she is 
 going to use that particular device often and 
 frequently enough to pay for its original cost, 
 plus the cost of its maintenance and depreci- 
 ation. 
 
 After deciding that for her needs, her size 
 family, it will pay her to have a particular tool, 
 the homemaker should investigate the tool, and 
 see if it is built or made on scientific principles. 
 This is particularly necessary with regard to 
 washing machines, suction sweepers, iceboxes, 
 and equipment in whose construction laws of 
 chemistry or physics are involved. Is the 
 "dolly" type of washer better than the vacuum 
 idea, for clothes .^^ Is it better to have the ice 
 at the side or top of the food cabinet.'^ Do the 
 bearings or ratchets or insulation of any piece 
 of mechanism or equipment comply with right 
 laws of construction? Unless she investigates 
 these points, reading the particular literature 
 
 [64 1 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 of each device carefully so that she understands 
 the why of its operation the homemaker will 
 find herself buying tools and devices which may 
 be attractive, but which, after a time, won't 
 work. 
 
 This point of scientific construction must also 
 be noted in regard to the shape of a utensil as 
 well as to the mechanism of a device. The old 
 high, iron pot was only efficient when it was set 
 down in a bed of embers or in the hole of a coal 
 stove. Our modern fuels are distributed in a 
 flat, broad, and shallow manner, as in the 
 burners of the gas stove, oil, gasoline, or electric 
 stove. On such broad burners, the tall, high 
 coffee-pot or kettle are very inefficient. The 
 new method of fuel distribution demands broad, 
 shallow utensils whose greatest width is across, 
 and not in height. The low egg-poacher, the 
 flat-bottomed kettles and pans are all better 
 than the old-fashioned models. We only waste 
 heat when we use the tall types which do not 
 make use of. all the heating surface of the fire 
 on which they rest. 
 
 Again, it is most important that the mechan- 
 [65] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ism of its parts and handles be of a comfort- 
 able shape to use in the hand. I know several 
 devices which were excellent in construction^ 
 but which were so uncomfortable to the hand of 
 the worker that the manufacturers ceased mak- 
 ing them, or changed the construction to conform 
 better with comfort. 
 
 Still more important, possibly, is the point 
 whether the device can be easily cleaned. An 
 appliance should save more time in doing its 
 work than is needed by the worker to clean it. 
 I know women who will not bother with a de- 
 vice like a chopper because they feel it is easier 
 to cut certain products with a knife than take 
 apart and wash a complicated chopper. Many 
 other devices with beaters, nuts, screws, and 
 "parts" are often not worth the labour they 
 save, because of the extra labour they entail in 
 cleaning their complicated mechanism. 
 
 It often happens that apparently excellent 
 devices or utensils will, upon use, reveal a defect. 
 I have bought frying pans whose surface was so 
 uneven that the grease all slipped to one side, 
 and it was necessary to put a small support 
 
 [66] 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 under the pan's edge. ** Seconds" are very 
 likely to prove unsatisfactory as to shape, and 
 it almost never pays to save the 10 or 15 cents 
 in their cost from the standard article. Tea- 
 pots and pitchers that don't "pour," tins that 
 have a bad edge to cut the hand when washed, 
 uneven and warped dishes, come under this 
 head. 
 
 Next comes the point of determining what 
 material, coating, or finish the utensil or tool 
 should possess. This should be decided not 
 from a matter of taste, but because each material 
 and coating has certain qualities. The material 
 of the utensil must have resistance to heat, to 
 wear, and to certain acids in foods. There is 
 also the question of weight and appearance. 
 Enamelware of the best kind radiates heat 
 readily, and is of good appearance either in 
 gray, white, or blue; but it chips readily, and, 
 in the poorer grades, is apt to expose large 
 patches of the underlying metal, which in com- 
 pound with the acids in certain foods may be 
 dangerous. Iron heats quickly, radiates quickly, 
 is hard to keep clean, and is heavy, although for 
 
 [67 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 frying it is unexcelled. Aluminum utensils 
 are very light, and generally have no seams, 
 which is an excellent point; they heat more 
 slowly than enamel, but retain the heat longer, 
 and so are particularly adapted to "fireless" 
 methods of cooking. Ordinarily tinned utensils 
 are very apt to rust, and become battered soon, 
 and it is better to have enamelled or aluminum 
 coatings, even in such pieces as the colander 
 and dipper. 
 
 After deciding all the above points in regard to 
 the utility and practicability of a tool, the beauty 
 and attractive design of the tool should be con- 
 sidered. The oft-quoted saying of William 
 Morris that the home should contain nothing 
 that is not at the same time useful and beautiful 
 can be carried into the kitchen. The painters 
 of Holland, of France, and even of our own 
 Colonial days, have given us inspiration for the 
 beautiful in our kitchens. It is possible to have 
 beautiful pots and pans, casseroles, and crockery 
 which are at the same time most eflScient and 
 practical. 
 
 After deciding all questions of the shape, 
 [68] 
 
TIME-SAVERS 
 
 (1) A Carafe Which Keeps Beverages Iced Many Hours 
 
 (2) Glass Ice-cream Freezer Which Requires No Turning 
 
 (3) Speedy Egg-beater Designed on the Turbine Principle 
 
 (4) Coffee Pot Permits Making Coffee Hours in Advance 
 
 (5) A Quick Toaster for Oil or Gas Fuels 
 
 (6) An Egg-Boiler That Boils Eggs Just Right 
 
 (7) A Double Pan Which Cooks Two Foods at Once 
 
 (8) Measuring Spoon Set Saves Lifting Different Spoons 
 
 (9) A Colander and Puree Strainer Which Gives Rapid Results 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 scientific construction, need, and material of her 
 efficient tool, the homemaker must turn in the 
 other direction and determine her relation to the 
 tool, rather than its relation to her. That is, 
 can she and will she take care of the tool prop- 
 erly, once she has bought it? This is the vital 
 point in the purchase of any tool, and partic- 
 ularly equipment, devices or complicated mech- 
 anism in the home. 
 
 It may not be fair to say that half the tools 
 purchased are not properly cared for; but to 
 any one who has observed how tools are used 
 and cared for in the average home, it is distress- 
 ing to see how so much splendid equipment and 
 mechanism is neglected, and even allowed to 
 depreciate, because of lack of care, or because 
 of the wrong or unintelligent care. 
 
 First, it is often true that women purchasers 
 are ignorant of the scientific principles on which 
 their devices are made. Proper oiling of a sew- 
 ing machine, or the bearings of a wringer, may 
 not be understood; not every woman can get 
 the most value out of a food-chopper, because 
 she does not care for the knives properly, or 
 
 [69] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 grease the screws with lard; it takes real, scien- 
 tific knowledge to run a stove correctly, as to 
 the why of drafts, dampers, and flue; often a 
 beautiful material, like aluminum, is tarnished 
 almost irremediably because an alkali was used 
 in the water to wash it; the glaze on casseroles 
 and crockery may be unnecessarily cracked 
 because the temperatures at which they are put 
 in the oven, or sudden changes, from heat to 
 cold, are not noticed. The best enamelware is 
 chipped because it is placed too suddenly over 
 a very hot flame, which causes the metal to 
 expand too suddenly, and hence "chip" both 
 inner and outer surface; the finest knives and 
 carvers are spoiled because they are carelessly 
 jumbled in a drawer. 
 
 The efficient tool needs efficient care, and the 
 best tool will be but a poor servant if it is poorly 
 and unintelligently cared for. The matter of 
 care of tools often enters into the problem of 
 whether the mistress is willing to purchase 
 labour-savers for hired servants. Good tools are 
 not always to be trusted in the hands of ser- 
 vants who do not understand the principles of 
 
 [70 1 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 their mechanism. Therefore it is the intelHgent 
 mistress who does her own work, who can 
 make the best use of the modern labour-savers, 
 which depend on an understanding of their con- 
 struction and upon proper care to be really 
 efficient tools. 
 
 In considering any labour-saving device, in 
 point of its relation to the worker, she asks her- 
 self, "Does this tool save me time.^ Does it 
 save me steps. ^ Does it save me labour? Does 
 it save fuel.^^" All household devices and tools 
 can therefore be grouped under these four 
 heads : 
 
 1. Fuel-savers 
 
 2. Step-savers. 
 
 3. Labour-savers. 
 
 4. Time-savers. 
 
 Of course it may be true that any particular 
 device covers two or three points, saving both 
 time and steps, but this is a convenient classifi- 
 cation. 
 
 In considering the expenses of the household, 
 and particularly the kitchen, the item that looms 
 largest is fuel. It takes coal or oil or gas or 
 
 [71] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 electricity to cook our food. Heat is the most 
 costly item in cooking. Now cooking is the 
 application of a cooking temperature to food, by 
 means of air, water, steam, or metal. It may 
 be hot air as in roasting, hot water as in boiling, 
 steam as in steaming, or direct contact with a 
 heated metal or direct flame as in frying. Some- 
 times it is a combination of these processes. 
 Cooking is generally done, not by contact with 
 the flame or coal, but by the heat generated by 
 the flame, which heats the water, the metal, or 
 the air which does the real cooking. That is, 
 it is the hot water that boils the potato, the 
 heated steam which steams it, and the hot air 
 which bakes it, and not a direct contact with 
 coal or flame. It follows therefore that any 
 method that conserves the loss of heat will be 
 an efBcient cooking method; any utensil which 
 conserves heat, and thus hastens the cooking 
 process, will reduce the amount of fuel used, 
 and thus be a fuel-saver. 
 
 In a former paragraph on the efficient shape 
 of utensils I touched on the point of high- 
 shaped pots being inefficient because they do 
 
 [72] 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 not make use of the largest amount of heating 
 surface upon which they are placed. I wish to 
 emphasize this point again. Now for any boiling 
 process it is better to place the utensil over a 
 quick, direct flame, and use a low, shallow 
 utensil which will cover as much heating sur- 
 face as possible. This is true of a boiler, of a 
 double boiler, and of any pan in which a liquid 
 is heated. 
 
 Steaming and stewing are modifications of 
 the boiling process, and it is particularly true 
 that a steaming utensil must be broad to ab- 
 sorb heat, and to give off a wide surface of steam 
 so that the food above the steam may receive 
 as much steam as possible. Steamers, poachers, 
 stew-pans, etc., should all be broad, low, and 
 wide. 
 
 In baking, the food is enclosed and cooked 
 by the hot air of an oven. It is, therefore, neces- 
 sary that our oven be well insulated to prevent 
 the escape of unnecessary heat by radiation. 
 Portable ovens should be small and have double 
 walls. A glass door in the oven and an oven 
 thermometer are necessaries, as opening the 
 
 [73] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 door to "find out if it's done" allows heat to 
 escape and retards the cooking process. The 
 oven should be placed on or above the waist 
 level to relieve the worker from the inefficiency 
 of stooping to care for it. 
 
 In roasting, the food is placed in a pan and 
 surrounded by the hot air of the oven, which 
 dries and cooks out the moisture as it cooks the 
 food. Basting is the old-fashioned way of 
 trying to save the moisture in the meat, so it 
 will not be ''dry." This manner of basting 
 is very inefficient, because wasteful of heat and 
 of the juices of the food. Better roasting uten- 
 sils are made after the "double-roaster" plan, 
 which saves heat and labour, and retains the 
 juices. In steaming, we have a modification 
 of the boiling process, which has the same effect 
 as boiling, but which allows far less waste of the 
 original food materials. Steam also saves loss 
 of heat by evaporation, as it is the evaporating 
 water that really cooks the food. All steamers, 
 whether the round or square type, are fuel- 
 savers, and all utensils for steaming should 
 be broad and flat, as in boiling, to absorb the 
 
 [74 1 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 greatest amount of heat from the heating sur- 
 face. 
 
 The most modern adaptation of the principle 
 of cooking with conserved heat is found in the 
 fireless cooker. Some authority has said that 
 the aeroplane, the wireless, and the fireless 
 are the three greatest inventions of the twen- 
 tieth century. Certainly the fireless cooker is 
 the greatest of fuel-savers. So many women 
 have written to me asking if the fireless will 
 *'work," that I wish to explain the fireless idea 
 in detail. We know by experiment that we 
 can heat a quart of water in a few minutes on 
 any stove. But the water will gradually cool, 
 unless we keep the fire burning under it. If 
 we turn out the fire the cooking or boiling 
 stops. Now it is the cold air coming in contact 
 with the boiling water that cools the water and 
 retards the cooking process. If we can remove 
 the boiling water from the air, the water will 
 only fall in temperature slowly, and will stay 
 heated much longer. Now the fireless cooker 
 is built on just this principle of conserving the 
 heat, in the heated utensil, away from the air, 
 
 [75 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 SO that loss of heat is prevented, and so that 
 cooking is enabled to go on for hours after the 
 fire is put out. In a fireless we heat the utensil 
 and food for a certain period over a flame, until 
 both utensil and food in it are boiling, and the 
 food partly cooked. Then we cut off the fire, 
 place the boiling utensils and food in an air- 
 tight box — the insulated cooker — and the 
 cooking proceeds slowly. 
 
 In present types of fireless, we find them 
 fitted with soapstone or metal disks just the 
 size to cover each utensil. These " radiators" are 
 then heated over a flame fire for twenty minutes, 
 until of a high temperature; and the " radiator," 
 supported by its rack, is then placed directly 
 over and above the meat or food to be roasted, 
 in its own utensil. At once the whole utensil, 
 radiator and roast and all, are locked into the 
 air-tight box, and the cooking process continues 
 slowly. The Indians used this same idea in 
 their famous clambakes, burying the clams be- 
 tween hot stones, covered with a bed of seaweed, 
 to come back to a delicious hot repast several 
 hours later. Since we wish to conserve all the 
 
 [76] 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 heat possible in our utensils before placing in 
 the cooker, we should use utensils of aluminum, 
 which conserve heat much longer than any other 
 metal. The important point in the choice of a 
 fireless is its insulation — whether it is of a 
 material to withstand radiation for the longest 
 time, and whether its "packing" is constructed 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 This same principle of conservation of heat is 
 used in the Thermos bottle, and the different 
 Thermos jugs and carafes. Hot or cold liquid 
 is placed in an air-tight receptacle, and corked 
 at once. Since no air can reach it, the beverage 
 or food retains its original heat or cold for twleve 
 hours or more. 
 
 Therefore we can place the fireless at the head 
 of our list of fuel-saving utensils. Other fuel- 
 saving utensils or devices are: 
 
 " FUEL-SAVERS " 
 
 Fireless cookers. 
 Glass door ovens. 
 Round or square steamers. 
 Double roasting pans. 
 
 [77 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Triplicate or double pots (for one burner). 
 
 Teakettle with cereal inset. 
 
 Thermos bottles and jugs. 
 
 Radiating ''hot plates" for gas and oil-stoves. 
 
 Covered hoods for irons. 
 
 Hooded "hot-plate" ovens (gas or oil). 
 
 Let us see what are the time-savers: 
 
 " TIME-SAVERS " 
 
 Take the food-chopper as found in many 
 kitchens. It takes seven minutes to chop a 
 pound of meat using a wooden bowl and knife. 
 A chopper of family size will chop three pounds 
 of meat in one minute. The person using a 
 chopping knife lowers and raises his knife as he 
 chops, and half the time he is not chopping meat, 
 but air. But a meat-chopper is grinding meat 
 all of the time, and air none of the time. The 
 food-chopper can be classed as a time-saver. 
 Following is a list of devices which are chiefly 
 time-savers, and which are more or less familiar 
 to the modern housekeepers: 
 
 Food choppers. 
 
 Bread mixers. 
 
 [78] 
 
LABOUR-SAVERS 
 
 (1) Dish Drainer Allows Dishes to Dry Themselves 
 
 (2) Hooded, Long-handled Dust-pan Prevents Stooping 
 
 (3) Stationary Egg-beater Prevents Waste Motion 
 
 (4) Washboiler with Rotary Wheel Saves Rubbing 
 
 (5) Hot Mangle Which Replaces Hand Labour 
 
 (6) Silver Clean Pan Which Does Away with Silver Polishing 
 
 (7) An Efficient, Easily Cleaned Meat-chopper 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 Cake mixers. 
 
 Washing machines. 
 
 Dish dryers. 
 
 Silver clean pans. 
 
 I have not dwelt on the devices that use elec- 
 tricity. It is true that electricity has trans- 
 formed our whole modern life, and many people 
 look to the electrically equipped home as a 
 solution of the servantless household. I am 
 enthusiastic in favour of electric equipment, but 
 from observation I have found it is, as yet, too 
 expensive to supplant hand power in the opera- 
 tions of devices in the home. It is also true 
 that while city dwellers have come to believe in 
 the prevalence of the electric button, electricity 
 is actually in use by only a fraction of our popu- 
 lation. Until current can be supplied at a cheaper 
 rate per kilo than at present, I feel it can- 
 not be a great factor in reducing household 
 expense, especially for a large or moderate size 
 family. 
 
 But there is a long list of splendid electric 
 equipment, and the styles and mechanism of 
 each piece is being perfected considerably. 
 
 [79 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Such a list would include, at the head: 
 
 Electric irons. 
 
 Electric washing machines, 
 
 Electric sewing machines. 
 
 Electric buffer, and motors. 
 
 Electric vacuum cleaners. 
 
 Toasters. 
 
 Grills. 
 
 Percolators. 
 
 Electric fireless. 
 
 Electric hot plate and stoves. 
 
 Fans, ventilators. 
 
 This also seems to be the place to discuss the 
 new fuel of denatured alcohol, and the appli- 
 ances now on the market for its use. I have 
 tested denatured-alcohol-using devices, and my 
 experience is that at present alcohol is too dear 
 a fuel to enable an alcohol stove to have more 
 than a temporary and emergency use. For 
 chafing dishes, percolators, toasters, and such 
 uses it is unexcelled, but I doubt its practicality 
 for more extended purposes. 
 
 Third comes the large group of labour-savers 
 now on the market: 
 
 [80] 
 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 
 
 " LABOUR-SAVERS " 
 
 Laundry mangles. 
 Vacuum cleaners. 
 Loose bottom cake tins. 
 Stationary bowls and mixers. 
 Long-handle dustpans. 
 Dustless mops, dusters. 
 Glass ice-cream freezers. 
 Improved mop-wringers. 
 Clothes sprinklers. 
 Great-grip nut crackers. 
 Attached colanders. 
 Potato ricers. 
 
 Slaw and vegetable cutters. 
 Washboilers with spigot outlets. 
 Percolating washing devices. 
 Wringers. 
 
 Fourth comes the group of step-savers, which 
 includes many excellent devices: 
 
 " STEP-SAVERS " 
 
 Kitchen cabinets. 
 Wheel trays. 
 
 Self -heating irons (electric — gas — alcohol). 
 [81] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Elevator iceboxes. 
 
 Lazy Susan trays. 
 
 The efficient tool surrounds the housekeeper 
 on every hand, but it depends largely on the 
 housewife herself whether she needs it or not; 
 whether she understands on what principles it is 
 made; whether it is of suitable shape, design, and 
 material for the particular purpose; whether it 
 is comfortable to use, easy to clean, and a paying 
 investment for her particular family; whether 
 she takes care of it and uses it intelligently. 
 
 [82 1 
 
CHAPTER FIVE 
 
 DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 HOUSEHOLD TASKS 
 
 1 HE principles of scientific management al- 
 ways appeal to me as so many rungs of a lad- 
 der. You mount the first rung, and then the 
 second, and so on, ascending to the top, and each 
 successive rung depends on having climbed the 
 previous one and set foot on it firmly. In this 
 new science of work we first try to "standard- 
 ize" each piece of work so that we can do it in 
 the shortest time, and with least effort — the 
 first rung; then we find out under what gen- 
 eral conditions it is best to do our partic- 
 ular piece of work — "standardized" kitchen 
 arrangement, or rung two; next we find out 
 the best and most efficient tool for our 
 use, and decide to use it intelligently — rung 
 three; and now, having the task, the con- 
 ditions of work, and the right tool, the next 
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 question is, when shall we do this task and use 
 this tool? 
 
 If we had the best egg-beater, and knew just 
 how and in how short a time we could make a 
 cake, but tried to make it when the groceryman 
 would interrupt us to ask the day's order, we 
 should be wasting all our skill, because we were 
 doing that task at the wrong time. 
 
 The logical and only possible next step after 
 acquiring skill in our methods of work is to 
 plan the time when we can do that work best 
 with relation to other pieces of work. So we 
 must schedule our tasks, that we can easily 
 dispatch them one after another with as much 
 ease as the Twentieth Century Limited flies 
 from station to station on its eighteeen-hour 
 trip from New York to Chicago. 
 
 When we standardized each of our separate 
 tasks, we found, as I showed in Chapter II, that 
 it took approximately so long to do each of them, 
 and I included a short table of the time it took 
 me to perform various home tasks under stand- 
 ardized conditions. Every housekeeper can 
 make out a similar schedule of the various tasks 
 
 [84] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 she must do each day, according to the number 
 and size of her family, size of her house, and its 
 work. 
 
 Of course my exact plan of running a house on 
 a schedule won't fit in every household, because 
 I have two babies, a boy of four and a baby 
 girl of two, and, naturally, my family's needs 
 are different from those of a family with 
 older children, or one composed entirely of 
 grown-ups. 
 
 In planning my schedule, I began by thinking 
 of all the things I had to do every day, then the 
 things I had to do but once a week or so. Then 
 I timed just how long it took me to wash dishes, 
 give the rooms their daily cleaning, make bread, 
 put away the laundry, make a cake, and in 
 fact, do every home duty. After finding out 
 how long it took me to perform each task (with- 
 out interruption) I made up both a daily and a 
 weekly schedule. 
 
 Here is my weekly schedule: 
 
 Monday — Brush up after Sunday, mend soiled linen, 
 soak clothes, market for and prepare Tuesday meals in 
 advance. 
 
 [85 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Tuesday — Wash clothes every other week (Mothers' 
 Meeting on alternate Tuesday), wipe bathroom and 
 kitchen. 
 
 Wednesday — Iron clothes every other week, mend 
 and lay away clothes, market for Thursday. 
 
 Thursday — Do new sewing in forenoon (Club every 
 other Thursday), wipe bathroom. 
 
 Friday — Do baking and special cooking, clean bed- 
 rooms, market for Saturday and Sunday. 
 
 Saturday — Clean living-rooms, bathroom, and kitchen, 
 clean silver; generous dinner Saturday night, so only light 
 meals Sunday. 
 
 This is a "skeleton" schedule. The washing 
 and ironing are done by a woman who comes in 
 on two consecutive mornings of the same week, 
 as this plan allows for emergencies of rainy days, 
 etc., and gives her time to clean my kitchen and 
 bathroom — the heavy work. The week that 
 alternates with wash week she comes one whole 
 Saturday for a thorough cleaning. I make a 
 point of marketing three times a week, doing 
 the marketing for Sunday on Friday afternoon, 
 so that I have an uninterrupted Saturday morn- 
 ing for work. We have our Sunday dinner on 
 Saturday night, so that I may have Sunday an 
 easy day. 
 
 [86] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 My planning for a single day may show the 
 idea better: 
 
 Rise 6:30 o'clock. 
 
 Breakfast 7 o'clock. 
 
 Dress little boy; scrape and carry dishes to kitchen; 
 air beds. 
 
 Baby's bath, 7:30 a. m.; the baby naps from 9 to 
 10 A. M. 
 
 Wash dishes, plan meals, cook and prepare for dinner, 
 9 to 10 A.M. (Little boy plays on porch or in room.) 
 
 Make beds, sweep, dust, 10 to 11 a. m., while the baby 
 is awake. 
 
 Prepare for luncheon, sew half an hour while playing 
 with the children, 11 to 12. 
 
 Lunch with both children at noon. Leave luncheon 
 dishes unwashed, so as to nap an hour at once with 
 children, uninterrupted. 
 
 Dress self and children at 2 p.m.; go for walk, market, 
 or make a call. 
 
 Home again, 5 p.m.; give children supper, start own 
 supper. Give children bath, put them to bed at six 
 o'clock. 
 
 Have own supper alone with father, 6 :30 p. m. 
 
 Wash dishes, and while doing so prepare cereal, fruit, 
 and the baby's gruel for the "fireless cooker." Finish 
 about 7 : 30 p.m. 
 
 Don't suppose because I plan my work very 
 thoroughly that I am never interrupted. I am; 
 and it is just because of the many interruptions 
 
 187 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 that every mother is subjected to that I beheve 
 we ought to plan our work more definitely, 
 to accomplish anything between the interrup- 
 tions! 
 
 Every woman with children knows the in- 
 numerable calls away from her work. I have 
 to pick up David from his bump and "kiss 
 it well"; or I leave the baby playing safely only 
 to enter a short time later and find that she has 
 mysteriously annexed the vaseline tube, and 
 is calmly eating it, and squeezing it over her- 
 self everywhere, so that she needs a complete 
 change of clothes: or I may find her preparing 
 to swallow the buttons off a card, one by one, 
 or something else equally exciting! 
 
 But you notice that I plan my most difficult 
 work when I positively know I will be undis- 
 turbed: when the baby is asleep and the boy is 
 playing quietly: from 9 to 10 o'clock. During 
 this time I make a dessert, or I bake, or do any 
 cooking which would be spoiled if I took my 
 hand from it even for a moment. When the 
 baby is awake, and the boy is becoming fretful 
 and hungry, I only dust or do pick-up sewing 
 
 [88] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 which would not matter if it were discontinued 
 for a few moments. 
 
 Some of my friends laugh at what they call 
 my "schedule babies," because their hours for 
 sleep and food and play are quite regular. 
 But the fact remains that babies are not such a 
 care as some women make of them. Most 
 normally healthy babies can be trained easily 
 to regular habits. My babies, on "schedule" 
 feedings, have awakened at the very minute by 
 the clock! And, trained as mine are to go to 
 bed early, I can hardly keep them awake later 
 than the regular hour. Much of the excite- 
 ment and fuss from so-called "restless" children 
 is due not so much to the children as to the 
 mothers themselves and their irregular habits. 
 
 I make it a rule to go out on two afternoons 
 of a week, and then I have a young girl come in 
 to look after the children. But any other time 
 I want to go out I take the children with me. 
 This condition forces me to plan my supplies 
 and foods in such a way as never to be out of 
 things. I could use the telephone, yes, or I 
 could have the driver call; but I have found that 
 
 [89] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 these lazy methods cause much waste and over- 
 charge, and are one of the direct factors of the 
 high cost of hving to-day. 
 
 I take the babies out for a long airing every 
 afternoon, and during that time I do my market- 
 ing. 
 
 The first thing I do each morning, in order to 
 facilitate the "dispatching" of my work, is to 
 "take stock" of my food supplies. Then having 
 found out the state of my pantry, icebox, and 
 larder, I plan my meals in advance. I usually 
 plan the meals for the whole day and the next 
 day at once, and even if there are minor changes, 
 I am more sure of a better balanced menu, 
 carefully considered. This planning in ad- 
 vance leaves no excuse for forgetting to prepare 
 any dish I have planned, or to have the neces- 
 sary ingredients in the pantry; and as I can 
 thus see several meals ahead at a glance, I can 
 prepare more at one period. This saves time 
 and often a double handling of utensils. I have 
 a separate pad or kitchen "memo" on which I 
 jot down lists of needed supplies. I find a 
 kitchen notebook indispensable, as through its 
 
 [90] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 use and notes I have learned exact quantities 
 of materials, and found the exact seasoning, 
 etc., of many dishes. A kitchen calendar, with 
 large figures, serves as a check on milkman, ice- 
 man, etc., as I mark the daily delivery of each 
 in the square of the date. 
 
 I prepare all desserts in that morning hour, 
 and generally all the first preparing of meats and 
 vegetables, so that the utensils and pans used 
 in their preparation are washed with the morn- 
 ing dishes when I am wearing a work dress, in- 
 stead of at night when I have on a clean waist. 
 I am a "fireless cooker" devotee because 1 be- 
 lieve it saves a tremendous amount of time gen- 
 erally lost in "pot- watching," not to mention 
 saving in fuel. While washing dishes at night 
 I start the cereal for breakfast, the baby's 
 gruel, and such fruit as prunes, and even rice 
 for luncheon the following noon. 
 
 Because I can't run to the store when out of 
 every little thing — even if I approved of that 
 slipshod plan — I buy all dry groceries and 
 staples in quantities. Of course I save money on 
 this wholesale buying; but I do it chiefly because 
 
 [91] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 I can think of no detail in "dispatching" house- 
 work so time-losing as to have to stop all house- 
 hold machinery to run for a cake of soap, or to 
 be unable to make apple sauce because there 
 isn't a cup of sugar in the house. Many house- 
 keepers say that buying in wholesale quantities 
 is extravagant because when one has a large 
 supply on hand one is apt to be careless. But 
 this is not true. Buying in quantities saves 
 money, saves the chance of being out of supplies, 
 and the time lost in procuring them. I keep my 
 excess groceries stored in a separate pantry, and 
 regard it as a "reserve grocery store," so that 
 there is no temptation to use them too freely. 
 
 We live in the suburbs, and every one who 
 lives as we do knows what it is to have friends 
 drop in on you ! When they do come I dislike 
 having to rush off to the store, as it takes time 
 from their visit and appears as if I hadn't any- 
 thing to eat generally. So I have an "emer- 
 gency guest shelf." This contains such supplies 
 as a jar of fruit, a bottle each of olives, pickles, 
 extract of beef and malted milk, a small jar of 
 nut meats, a can of salmon, crab meat or sar- 
 
 [92] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 dines, a can of soup — all such as can be changed 
 by any housewife into a tasty "emergency 
 luncheon" or an impromptu tea. I never touch 
 this shelf except for guests, and replenish it 
 when necessary. 
 
 In a following chapter I wish to discuss 
 methods of economical buying, and show how 
 the housewife can be the real ** purchasing 
 agent" of her business. 
 
 Although I have written out and hung in my 
 kitchen the above general schedule of each day's 
 work, I often have special tasks to do, which I 
 must squeeze in some way, and which I am apt 
 to forget. So I have borrowed a little device 
 from my husband's office, which is very helpful. 
 It is called a " visible index " and is made by 
 slipping several 3x5 inch filing cards — one a 
 little higher than the other — on a small strip of 
 metal. Each card recalls some work or special 
 matter I must attend to, and cards may be 
 added or removed easily. 
 
 I have done household tasks under the old 
 way and under the new system of "dispatching," 
 and I can unhesitatingly say that the old way 
 
 [93] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 is the harder and more conducive to "nerves." 
 I think it is not because each household task is 
 hard that many women find themselves fa- 
 tigued; but that their work is poorly planned — 
 not "dispatched," so that when they come to 
 the task they have less time for it than is 
 necessary, and consequently they waste more 
 energy on it in order to get it done in this hur- 
 ried time. 
 
 If the reader will refer to the six factors of in- 
 efficiency in household tasks, it will be seen that 
 several of them are directly due to poorly 
 planned work done at the wrong time. When 
 work is begun at a time when some other task 
 will interrupt, the former task has to be brushed 
 aside, and practically all the energy that went 
 into commencing the task is lost; then, too, 
 energy is lost merely in changing from task to 
 task; poorly planned work results in too much 
 changing, and hence too much wasted vitality. 
 Again, without a definite schedule, the worker 
 has to stop at the end of each task, and ask her- 
 self, "What shall I do next?" Just this 
 stopping and questioning involves energy and 
 
 [94] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 decisions, which it is totally unnecessary to 
 make when a definite daily schedule is laid out. 
 
 For instance, suppose I wash my breakfast 
 dishes, and then, without a schedule, stop and 
 consider what I shall do? — make the beds, 
 fill the lamps, or clean the bathroom? I have 
 to think that all out before I can proceed, and it 
 is probable that, in the hurried decision, I will 
 decide to do the bathroom, when the lamps 
 should have been the next task in point of 
 efficiency. With a schedule there is no such 
 hesitation and loss of energy. After finishing 
 the dishes, I air the beds, and then I dust, and 
 so one thing moves harnioniously into the other, 
 and 1 am saved all the fatigue of making con- 
 stant decisions about what I must do next. 
 
 Right here comes in the little psychological 
 point of habit: if I never know just what task 
 I am going to take up next, I never acquire 
 smoothness in the way I work, either mentally 
 or in the task itself. But working after a 
 definite plan permits the habit of smooth work 
 to grow, and it becomes much easier (and 
 hence without strain) to work and do my tasks. 
 
 [95 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 The working out of the proper arrangement 
 of my kitchen is only a means to proper '' dis- 
 patching" of both processes of preparing and 
 clearing away a meal. 
 
 I did not dwell on it at that point, but if the 
 arrangement of my model kitchen is referred 
 to it will be seen that my kitchen is so 
 arranged that there is a definite ''dispatching" 
 of the whole preparation of the meal. That 
 is, I have a definite way of progressing — of 
 ''routing" materials from pantry to dining- 
 room. 
 
 " DISPATCHING " DINNER 
 
 1. Materials taken from pantry and icebox. 
 
 2. Prepared, beaten or cleaned on board of cabinet 
 
 to right of icebox. 
 
 3. Cooked on stove to right of cabinet. 
 
 4. Laid on serving table (on platters and dishes) to 
 
 right of stove. 
 
 5. Piled on wheeltray and sent at once to table in 
 
 dining-room. 
 
 6. Soiled utensils put to soak; table straightened; 
 
 needless materials and utensils laid away. 
 
 RETURN "dispatching" 
 
 1. Soiled dishes placed on tray and wheeled to sink- 
 table to right of sink. 
 [96 1 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 2. Left-over foods placed in pantry or icebox. 
 
 3. Dishes washed; pans and utensils washed; laid on 
 
 shelves to left of sink. 
 
 Successful dispatching of work depends defi- 
 nitely on the proper arrangement of larger 
 equipment, as in the kitchen, and of proper 
 arrangement of all needed utensils and food 
 materials; it depends on having a definite place 
 for every utensil or tool so that no time is lost 
 looking for things; all materials must be at 
 hand before the work is begun; and it consists 
 particularly in grouping processes that are re- 
 lated, and doing them together, rather than 
 doing first one portion of a task, stopping, and 
 commencing some unrelated portion. 
 
 This latter point in dispatching is clearly shown 
 in the methods used in sewing. 
 
 I make my children's clothes, although I buy 
 my own clothing ready made. I can't afford 
 a really good dressmaker. Mothers have little 
 time for "fittings" anyway. But I economize 
 on the babies' outfits because I find that well- 
 made garments for little tots are higher priced, 
 proportionally, than those for grown-ups. I 
 
 [97] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 make use of the principle of ''dispatching" my 
 sewing, just as they do in a garment factory. 
 My plan is something like this: 
 
 I buy in as large quantities as possible, choosing such 
 materials as will be suitable for both children, as gingham, 
 Indian Head, unbleached linen, etc. This plan would be 
 very good for a family of three or four children where the 
 garments could be made of similar material, each rendered 
 individual by different trimming. 
 
 I purchase all thread, puis, and buttons in quantities, 
 and stick to similar patterns in buttons, so there will be 
 fewer replacements. Bias lawn binding is one of my 
 staples for finishing strongly and quickly. 
 
 Before beginning work I see that the machine is oiled, 
 that the proper needles are inserted, and that my pattern, 
 materials, inch measure, and all findings are at hand. 
 
 Next I cut everything of one kind at once: six rompers, 
 three petticoats, or whatever I am making. 
 
 In stitching I do first the back seams, or any pieces 
 requiring buttonholes, so that they may be picked up 
 later in odd moments when I am watching the babies, 
 talking to callers, etc. 
 
 Then I stitch on the machine everything that can be 
 run without basting, turning, or hand pressing. 
 
 I turn French seams, sleeves, or whatever can be 
 stitched without basting or gathering, and run them 
 on the machine. 
 
 I baste right through the pile, at one sitting, all hems, 
 sleeve-facings, etc. 
 
 I stitch through the same pile at once. 
 
 [98] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 I do hand finishing at odd times when watching the 
 babies, or I leave it for Aunt Bertha when she comes 
 to spend the day and wants to help me a bit. 
 
 I put trimming on by machine; or more frequently 
 by hand, as I prefer to do it by hand while caring for the 
 babies, rather than sit a longer time at the machine. 
 
 I know that some mothers will rise up and say 
 that it is too much for them to say how or when 
 they will do any part of the sewing, and that 
 they can make a better dinner than I without 
 dispatching it step by step. I do not doubt 
 that they will sew as well or better, and serve a 
 more successful dinner; the object of "dispatch- 
 ing" is not the quality of the product so much 
 as the ease, and reduced labour with which any 
 process is effected. I have been served the 
 most perfect dinners, and yet, through improp- 
 erly arranged equipment, and no definite plan 
 of work, the hostess was all ''tired out" before 
 the meal began, and was not able to enjoy her 
 own delicious cooking. 
 
 Some women may also say that because I do 
 sewing and other tasks in this apparently for- 
 mal manner, that I am reducing them to bare 
 mechanical processes, and robbing them of 
 
 [99 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 their beauty and that " home touch" which has 
 been praised for ages. That is just what I do 
 not do. I put into them all the inspiration and 
 love which any task must receive to be other 
 than mere factory work. So many women say, 
 "I don't want to run my home like an office or 
 a factory. I want it to be a home, I hate sys- 
 tem and methods, and all this efiiciency idea 
 seems to be too mechanical and formal for me to 
 follow." 
 
 But these same women and hosts of others 
 are continually talking about home drudgery. 
 If they have been doing all these home tasks 
 all these centuries in such a beautiful and poetic 
 way, why is it that women are fleeing from house- 
 work into professions and outside work.^^ Why 
 are they living lazily in cooperative apart- 
 ments, eating delicatessen meals, and refusing 
 to assume the burdens of motherhood. ^^ 
 
 "Motherliness" and "hominess" in the past 
 usually have meant drudgery. True and better 
 homemaking will come from a higher realiza- 
 tion of the tremendous possibilities of the home- 
 maker who uses scientific methods instead of 
 
 [100] 
 
DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
 
 rule-of -thumb. If housework is drudgery to a 
 woman it is only because that woman refuses 
 to accept the efficient methods and improved 
 equipment offered her on every hand. It is 
 just as stimulating to bake a sponge cake on a 
 six-minute schedule as it is to monotonously 
 address envelopes for three hours in a downtown 
 office: it is just as interesting and as great a test 
 of cleverness to "dispatch" a six-course dinner 
 as it is to make hammered brass or teach a 
 graded school. Housework, the science of home- 
 making and motherhood, if followed out on an 
 efficient plan, can be the most glorious career 
 open to any woman — one that will not stul- 
 tify nor degrade, but which offers her pecuhar 
 talents their widest and most varied scope. 
 
 [101] 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
 
 THE HOUSEWIFE AS PURCHASING 
 AGENT 
 
 r IFTY years ago about 68 per cent, of the 
 population of America lived in the country; 
 most of the industries of meat-curing, canning, or 
 "jarring," the making of clothing, soap, and 
 textiles were carried on within the home. The 
 housewife supplied with her own hands the 
 bulk of what her family ate, used, or wore. 
 
 At the present day these conditions are re- 
 versed, and about 65 per cent, of our people are 
 congested in cities; the "food factory" has taken 
 the place of home canning and food preparation; 
 meat-curing is in the hands of the packers; the 
 manufacture of ready-made clothing is astound- 
 ing in its extent; even the milk and egg supply 
 is handled by scientific dairies and the commis- 
 sion man. 
 
 With these changes in the economic handling 
 [102] 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 of the needs of the home has come an immense 
 change in our standards of hving. Times are 
 *' easier," more luxuries are manufactured and 
 widely distributed among the bulk of the 
 people. Our menu offers more variety, many 
 canned delicacies are now seen on every table, 
 and it is difficult to distinguish the shopgirl from 
 the woman of means by dress alone. 
 
 Since industry has become specialized, and 
 all the tasks of which woman has been the guar- 
 dian in the home for ages have been taken out 
 of her hands, it would seem as if the modern 
 housewife is bereft of her occupations, and that 
 she no longer is responsible for her family's 
 needs. But a closer examination of the facts 
 reveals that the modern housewife has been 
 forced by these industrial and economic changes 
 into even a more responsible position, that of 
 spender and buyer — she has become the pur- 
 chasing agent of the home and of society. It 
 took manual labour and skill to supply 
 the needs of her family with her own hands 
 fifty years ago; but it takes more thought 
 and intelligence to purchase for the needs of 
 
 [103 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 her family by wise expenditure at the present 
 day. 
 
 Buying is a science, and hke any other science 
 it is based on knowledge. In becoming the 
 purchasing agent of her family the modern 
 housewife must know. First she must know 
 real values in life and decide what standards she 
 wishes her family to maintain. It is true that 
 false standards of living, with extravagance in 
 dress, food, and shelter, are to blame for much of 
 our modern ills. Families whose incomes do 
 not warrant it ape the manners and amuse- 
 ments and furnishings of others, and are often 
 led into debt or speculation in order to maintain 
 this fictitious mode of life. It rests with the 
 homemaker to decide for a simple, sincere 
 standard of living. Then, with this standard 
 fixed in mind, she can more satisfactorily expend 
 wisely and successfully for the various items of 
 her family's needs. 
 
 Food is the largest item in the family budget. 
 As purchasing agent the housewife must know 
 food values, and what foods possess these values. 
 Something of the principles of nutrition, and 
 
 r 104 1 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 the part each kind of food plays in building the 
 human body, should be hers. If she does not 
 know that round steak at 20 cents a pound pos- 
 sesses as much nutriment as the porterhouse at 
 26 cents, she will not expend wisely or eco- 
 nomically. She should know something of the 
 idea of a "balanced meal," and what foods will 
 give it; the place of milk, fruit, and eggs in the 
 diet; what are healthful meat substitutes, and 
 the nourishment of various kinds of breads, 
 vegetables, and cereals. This knowledge will 
 enable her to buy foods intelligently, so that her 
 family can be well nourished with a varied diet 
 at a moderate expense. "Competent counsel" 
 for the housewife in this matter can be found in 
 the pages of the best women's pubHcations, 
 which retain experts in domestic science to show 
 her how to cook and market economically, and 
 in the so-called Farmers' Bulletins, like Nos. 391 
 142, 128, sent free from the Department of 
 Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The next largest item in the budget is cloth- 
 ing. I think that while many even inexperi- 
 enced women are intelligent on food matters, 
 
 [ 105 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 a greater number are unskilled in a knowledge of 
 textiles, and how to buy them. The purchasing 
 agent for her family's clothing will know what 
 materials wear best for certain purposes; what 
 colours will fade; how to tell woollen from 
 "shoddy"; how to buy flannels for the baby, 
 stockings and shoes for the boy; why there is not 
 such a fabric as "linen suiting" at 15 cents a yard; 
 how to tell if silk is weighted; if excess starch has 
 been used as a filler; if the material has imper- 
 fections in the weave; how to estimate the "all- 
 wool" dress goods before she buys; and by 
 a hundred details arm herself with accurate 
 knowledge, so that in this matter of textiles 
 she may clothe her family with materials and 
 garments that will wash, hold their shape and 
 not fade. 
 
 In the choice of furnishings the housewife 
 has a great opportunity for wise buying. We 
 in America seem to possess a mania for a pro- 
 fusion of furnishings, utensils, and bric-a-brac. 
 The wise housewife will know that the fewer 
 the furnishings the less the work devolving 
 upon her; that one or two well-made pieces of 
 
 [ 106 1 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 furniture are to be preferred to a suite of cheap 
 quality; that utensils must be chosen for their 
 wearing quality, shape, and ease in cleaning; 
 that ornaments should be few, and of simple 
 lines. Too much money is wasted in buying 
 poorly made small articles which have neither 
 use, nor beauty, but which only cause disorder 
 and require care. In the buying of furnishings, 
 the housewife must regard only the essentials, 
 and reject unsatisfactory, poorly made, or a pro- 
 fusion of objects and furnishings. 
 
 Fifty years ago the housewife who made apple 
 butter was sure that it was pure and clean, be- 
 cause it was made in her own kitchen. To-day 
 the housewife will have to read the label on her 
 apple butter to see that it is not artificially 
 coloured, prepared with glucose, and made in 
 some factory where unsanitary conditions pre- 
 vail. Thus a new responsibility in the buying 
 of foods confronts the home purchasing agent: 
 she must be sure of the excellence and purity of 
 the manufactured brands she buys; she must 
 read the labels and weights marked on the 
 packages she purchases; she must demand that 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 her packages and all goods are true to weight 
 or measure so that she does not suffer from the 
 modern " short- weight" evil which steals the 
 pennies from her pocket. In short, she must 
 protect herself and family by every means 
 against adulteration, fraud, short-weight, and 
 unsanitary handling of food products. 
 
 No efficient housewife will be without a set of 
 standard measures and a scale in her own 
 kitchen upon which she can weigh all goods 
 after delivery; she can closely watch the dealers 
 as they weigh articles before her; she can de- 
 mand, if she knows the weight and measure laws 
 of her state, that her bushel of potatoes be a 
 definite number of pounds, and not merely 
 a "bag" of potatoes; and that other food prod- 
 ucts conform to certain legal standards, which, 
 however, local dealers do not always observe; 
 she can examine the various "quart" bottles, 
 to see if they measure true, or whether a little 
 ingrowing bulb of glass at the bottom does not 
 rob them of several gills; all package goods 
 should be weighed, to see if they are net weight 
 or not, and to determine if the difference in 
 
 [108 1 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 price of the package and bulk article of the same 
 kind is warranted by the increased cleanliness 
 of the former; the "trimmings" should be cour- 
 teously required of the butcher, and the bone 
 from the mutton roast for which she paid 22 
 cents a pound; in all weighing and measuring, 
 let the housewife remember that its purpose is 
 not as much to detect dishonesty, as to encourage 
 honesty. 
 
 A strenuous campaign is constantly being 
 waged for purity in our canned and manu- 
 factured food products, by numbers of organized 
 workers, and by groups of housewives all over 
 the country. The reputable manufacturers are 
 banded with them in this purpose; but it is 
 also true that many unscrupulous manufacturers 
 are desirous of palming off products made under 
 unsanitary conditions, and prepared with pre- 
 servatives. ''Read the label '^ should be the 
 housewife's slogan. Notice particularly the 
 fine "print: "Prepared with benzoate of soda," 
 or "contains salicylic acid," "artificially col- 
 oured"; or the words "sulphate of copper," 
 or, particularly, the word ''compound '' which 
 
 [ 109 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 always means adulteration. In articles like 
 jellies, pickles, and catsups, watch for the use 
 of substitute sugars and preservatives; in 
 flavouring extracts watch for artificial flavours 
 of acetanilid, or ethyl, in prepared jelly powders 
 and candies beware of coal-tar dyes; ground 
 spices are adulterated with starch and plaster; 
 canned peas and beans are frequently coloured 
 with sulphate of copper. 
 
 The housewife's weapon against impurity in 
 manufactured goods is to accept only known and 
 well-advertised brands of the goods she needs. 
 Do not ask for "a can of tomatoes," but ask for 
 a brand whose manufacturer is backing his 
 product by the expenditure of millions of dol- 
 lars, because he knows it is pure, and who will 
 give you the "money-back guarantee" if you are 
 not satisfied. 
 
 It is the largest manufacturers of standard, 
 well-advertised articles who are on the right 
 side of the food fence, and who are working with 
 the housewife for better food conditions, and 
 who could not afford to put out an inferior ar- 
 ticle, because their whole reputation is at stake. 
 
 [ no ] 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 It is the small unknown maker who is afraid 
 to put his name on a can of tomatoes, and say it 
 is "Smith's tomatoes"; instead he calls it the 
 ''Peerless," or something like that, and will 
 put out an unworthy product not bearing his 
 name because you can't reach him if the product 
 is unsatisfactory. The housewife must support 
 the best manufacturers if she wants to encour- 
 age reliability, honesty, and purity in manu- 
 factured food products. 
 
 Then the purchasing agent will see that the 
 goods she buys are made and sold under sani- 
 tary conditions. Nutmeats which are picked 
 out by the children of Italians in a dark tene- 
 ment where the family washing is done alongside 
 the table will not be fit food for her family; 
 children's clothes, made in similar tenements, 
 under conditions of filth, are not fit for her 
 children to wear. Buy from a reputable firm, 
 and insist on the label on the inside of ready- 
 made clothes stating that the garment has 
 been made under sanitary conditions. De- 
 mand that your grocer keep his butter and 
 cheese under glass, and that the clerk doesn't 
 
 [111] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 sweep out the store when the crackers are lying 
 open; insist that butchers have netting over the 
 meat, and that such a thing as "loose milk" shall 
 be unknown in your community, and that only 
 wrapped bread be delivered by the driver who 
 also takes care of his horse. 
 
 The buying of this modern purchasing agent 
 will not be haphazard and slipshod. Besides 
 insisting on all the points of weight, sanitation, 
 and purity, the housewife will estimate carefully 
 what the needs of her family will be for a given 
 time. She will know that it is more economical 
 to buy in quantities, if the quantity is based on 
 actual estimate. Laundry soap costs 5 cents a 
 bar singly, but comes seven bars or six bars for 
 25 cents, or a saving of nearly 10 to 15 cents on a 
 dozen bars, besides the saving that comes from 
 having the soap harden well before use. I 
 know I use so many cans of vegetables or fruits 
 a month, so I order by the dozen and make a 
 saving of 3 or 4 cents on each can. I have worked 
 out for my family some simple estimate of the 
 time various articles last me, and with this fairly 
 accurate list, I can buy more intelligently and 
 
 [ in ] 
 
HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 
 
 economically, often making a large order on which 
 the grocer will give me a generous cash discount. 
 
 SUPPLIES LASTING A FAMILY OF FOUR — 
 
 (two adults — TWO children) 
 
 ARTICLE QUANTITY TIME 
 
 Coffee i Pound 1 Week 
 
 Tea i Pound 1 Week 
 
 Sugar 4 Pounds 1 Week 
 
 Flour 3i Pounds 1 Week 
 
 Cornstarch .... 1 Package 2 Weeks 
 
 Cereal 3 Packages 1 Week 
 
 Rice 1 Pound 1 Week 
 
 Spaghetti § Pound Each Meal 
 
 Cocoa J-Pound Box 3 Weeks 
 
 Canned Fruit .... 2 Cans 1 Week 
 
 Canned Vegetables . . 2 Cans 1 Week 
 
 Tapioca 1 Package 1 Week 
 
 Butter 2J or 3 Pounds 1 Week 
 
 Lard 1 Pound 2 Weeks 
 
 Potatoes (in winter) . 1 Bushel 1 Month 
 
 Soap, Laundry ... 2 Cakes 1 Week 
 
 Soap, Toilet .... 2 Cakes 1 Month 
 
 Salmon 2 Cans 1 Month 
 
 Sardines 2 Cans 1 Month 
 
 Codfish Flakes or Crab 
 
 Meat 2 Cans 1 Month 
 
 With this quite approximate list before me I 
 can very accurately make out orders and save 
 considerably. 
 
 [113] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Finally, the purchasing agent will use intel- 
 ligent care in the storage of her supplies, once 
 she has bought them. She will know at what 
 temperatures best to store her vegetables and 
 fruit; that flour and other cereals should be in a 
 cool place; that raisins and cocoanut shrivel 
 when opened; that heat germinates weevils 
 and other pests; that canned goods should be 
 emptied as soon as opened; that the excellence 
 of many package goods is destroyed by the care- 
 less way in which they are left exposed to dirt 
 and air. 
 
 The modern housewife will realize that the 
 burden of supplying her family has not been 
 taken out of her hand by modern industrial 
 conditions; but that, instead, in becoming the 
 purchasing agent of her family and society, she 
 has larger responsibilities calling for trained in- 
 telligence, knowledge, and constant vigilance. 
 
 [114] 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF HOUSE 
 HOLD FINANCES 
 
 1 HAVE for some time been connected with a 
 large women's publication to correspond with 
 their readers on home matters, answering ques- 
 tions of new methods of work, new devices and 
 tools for the home, and helping, if I could, to 
 solve the "perplexing problems" of my many 
 correspondents. The question which was put 
 to me the greatest number of times was not 
 how should they do housework, or what tool 
 should they use, but how could they manage their 
 household finances! 
 
 Time and again I have received long letters 
 asking for detailed help, telling the income, the 
 number in the family, what must be paid for 
 rent, what they wished to save, and ending with, 
 "Won't you please tell me how to manage 
 better?" 
 
 [115] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 This question of the management of the house- 
 hold finances is the most vital in the running of 
 the home, and is often deeply concerned in the 
 happy relation of husband and wife. This is 
 the one point in which the husband and wife 
 must "pull together." No really successful 
 management of the home can result if both 
 husband and wife do not equally and mutually 
 agree as to the distribution of their finances. 
 The homemaker must understand definitely 
 what the income is; the income-earner must 
 know definitely how that income is disbursed, 
 and both of them must have the same standards 
 in view, and the same ideal or motive toward 
 which to save. 
 
 It is impossible to achieve economy and success 
 if the wife is saving in her distribution of the 
 income, while the husband spends an undue 
 share on personal extravagance; vice versa, 
 it is impossible for a husband to save and attain 
 business success with a wife who spends fool- 
 ishly. The first step, then, is for both parties 
 to clearly understand the ideals toward which 
 they are working, and to mutually agree upon 
 
 [ 116 ] 
 
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 
 
 their standards of living, and what they can 
 afford to expend for each item of the family 
 budget. 
 
 In examining the family budget we find it 
 must include such expenses as shelter, food, 
 clothes, and a large group of operating expenses 
 like service, fuel, carfare, telephone, station- 
 ery; it must also cover emergencies like doctor 
 and sickness, and the item of savings, which 
 may be insurance, or payments on property. 
 The per cent, of the income which must be given 
 to each of these items varies with the income, 
 but the general figures of rent 20 per cent., food 
 25 per cent., clothes 20 per cent., 15 per cent., 
 for operating expenses and 20 per cent, for 
 savings, charity, and the "higher life," is an 
 accepted division on a salary of $1000-$2000. 
 
 It is an excellent plan, therefore, to make up 
 in advance a family "budget," apportioning the 
 income roughly for each item, depending on the 
 salary, social station, size of family, etc., etc., 
 of the particular case. After apportioning the 
 income in this way, both parties should insist 
 on keeping within these figures. Now just how 
 
 [117] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 shall this be done, and how can this ''budget" 
 be estimated in the first place? 
 
 No person can estimate the cost of running 
 any business unless he has figures and receipts 
 and cash records on which to base it. No per- 
 son can approximate the expenditure of one 
 year until he has the figures of the expenditure 
 of the previous year on which to base it. It is 
 necessary at the outset of running any business 
 — in this case the home — to keep records of 
 income received and income expended, so that 
 an estimate for the following year can be made, 
 and a more just understanding be had of all ex- 
 penditure, and the items on which it was made. 
 
 It is not difiicult, but very simple, to "keep 
 accounts" in some form. For the beginner I 
 suggest that a small ruled account book be 
 purchased (costing from 25 to 75 cents) which 
 has spaces for such general items as meat, 
 groceries, fuel, laundry, service, amusements, 
 etc., and spaces for cash received, cash expended, 
 and a balance column. This book has a double- 
 page of these columns for each month, a line 
 for each day. 
 
 [118] 
 
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 
 
 First save all sales-slips, receipted bills, and, 
 when shopping, jot down on your memoranda 
 the cost of each general item, such as fruit. It 
 is not necessary to say, ''cauliflower, 20 cents," 
 ''onions 1 cent" — merely the total of that 
 item, fruit. Then every other day, or the same 
 day if convenient, enter these small amounts in 
 the proper column in your book. Ice or milk bills 
 paid weekly, rent or insurance paid monthly, 
 should all be entered in the proper column; it is 
 sometimes better to lump items under "station- 
 ery," or to credit the father with a lump sum 
 which must cover his carfare, lunch, and in- 
 cidentals. At the end of every week it should 
 be convenient to total the columns, and make 
 a balance; or in many cases it is just as efficient 
 to total the expenses only monthly, depending 
 greatly on whether the bills are paid often, or at 
 the end of the month. This total amount of 
 expenditure, subtracted from the cash received 
 at the beginning of the month, should equal the 
 cash on hand at the end of the month — and 
 the hard task of "keeping accounts" is per- 
 formed. The surplus each month may be cred- 
 
 [119] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ited to the following month, or put toward a 
 savings or sinking fund for emergency use. 
 Keeping accounts in this form brings to light 
 several points: 
 
 It will tell you just what you spent every penny for; 
 
 It will compare two items for you at a glance, and you 
 can see if it is the *'meat" or the "grocery" item that is 
 pulHng up your bills; 
 
 It will compare any one item with the total expense, 
 so that you can determine whether you are not spending 
 too much for this item, as compared with your whole 
 income; 
 
 It will tell you what items are your biggest drain; 
 
 It will compare all the items this month with the 
 same items last month, so that you can instantly find out 
 the cause of any increase or change; 
 
 It will tell you the "average" of each item of your 
 expense, month by month, so that you can quite exactly 
 estimate the steady "average" of any of the regular 
 "operating expense," and can thus accurately estimate 
 your next "budget"; 
 
 It will show you just where you can retrench easiest; 
 
 It will show where small "leaks" are in your business, 
 that you never suspected; 
 
 It will tell you anything you want to know about your 
 home, if you keep it accurately, and allow it to do so. 
 
 I hear some woman say, ''Oh, but my hus- 
 band pays the lodge and the insurance and the 
 
 [no] 
 
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 
 
 rent, and I pay the food and clothes, and house 
 expenses, and won't that confuse keeping the 
 account?" Certainly not; it happens that you, 
 the homemaker, are keeping the account, be- 
 cause it is more convenient to do so; but items 
 that the husband spends should be written in 
 the account book as well as those spent by the 
 wife. "My husband won't take care of every 
 little penny," says another. Then mutually 
 arrange that he shall take a certain sum each 
 week or month for his carfare, lunch, and in- 
 cidentals, and put that sum on the book and let 
 the few remaining pennies be unitemized. 
 
 "But I get an allowance to run the house on, 
 and have to pay for my clothes from this," 
 writes another. Personally I am much opposed 
 to any kind of allowance system for either the 
 homemaker or the wage-earner. The business of 
 homemaking is too big and splendid between 
 two big and splendid persons to be subject to 
 any petty allowance system. I regard running 
 the home as I regard running any business — 
 with the wage-earner as senior partner, and the 
 homemaker as junior partner. Both must have 
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 the same ideals of what they are running that 
 business for, and what they wish to save. They 
 must both mutually decide how much they are 
 going to spend, and for what they are going to 
 spend it. The income should be considered as a 
 common fund, from which either and both may 
 draw out necessary funds for current expenses 
 in a dignified way. The surplus, after both have 
 supplied their common needs, should be placed 
 in some form of savings or ''sinking" fund 
 toward the proverbial rainy day, and for use 
 when the ordinary salary is not sufficient, as at 
 times when there is a heavy drain of buying 
 clothes for winter. If the wife needs money for 
 personal use, let her take it from their common 
 income; if the husband has needs, let him draw 
 on the common income. What could be simpler.? 
 Why should there arise any comphcations, if 
 both think enough of each other, and keenly 
 feel the aims to which they are both striving? 
 If I am keenly interested in saving for a piece 
 of property — which I shall share — why should 
 I spend fooUshly on myself? If my husband is 
 eager to start an educational fund for our chil- 
 
 [122] 
 
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 
 
 dren, will he fritter his money away on personal 
 luxuries? 
 
 The reason that I am so opposed to a per- 
 sonal "allowance" for the wife is that I cannot 
 imagine any business in which the senior partner 
 would hand a small lump of money to the 
 junior partner and say, "Here, John, is some 
 money for you ; get some togs with it." Such an 
 attitude would be undignified and compromising. 
 The junior partner, like the senior partner, has a 
 right to draw on the business for his needful 
 expenditures; and neither partner will be selfish 
 if they think of the business — the home — and 
 what they want to do for it. That is why there 
 is no stimulus so great, or a tie that binds both 
 partners together more closely, than a common 
 object, like paying for a home, a piece of prop- 
 erty, making a school fund, or other common 
 purpose. I have not entered into a detailed 
 discussion of the "budget" because it has been 
 discussed and thrashed out on every side. The 
 needs of every family vary because of locality, 
 profession, and social standards, so that it is 
 always a matter of the individual case. A par- 
 
 [ 123 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ticular budget depends on a particular fam- 
 ily, and the experience of other families can 
 only be taken as suggestions. Every family 
 must decide the divisions of its income for 
 its particular needs. The question is, how 
 little can I spend and still live comfortably.^ 
 "Account keeping," and the other sugges- 
 tions I have given will assist, no matter 
 what the family be in size, or standards or 
 locality. 
 
 In managing her finances in a scientific way, 
 the homemaker will, first, keep account of her 
 expenditures; she will pay cash, as cash is 
 cheapest, and bills which are allowed to hang 
 develop errors which cannot be rectified with 
 the ease that they can be detected in a 
 weekly bill; she will check up all bills care- 
 fully, to avoid error: she will keep receipts in 
 accurate form, and all important receipts for a 
 year at least; she will live on less than her in- 
 come, and save, in partnership with her hus- 
 band, for a common object; she will not incur 
 debt, or buy ''on time," where she would have 
 to pay an inflated value, and where it is morally 
 
 [124] 
 
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 
 
 weakening to use an article for which she has 
 not paid. 
 
 In the chapter on^ReHable Records," I wish to 
 show how these accounts and receipts may be 
 kept in a convenient and compact form, to which 
 the homemaker can readily refer. 
 
 v 
 
 [125] 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 RELIABLE RECORDS IN THE HOUSE- 
 HOLD 
 
 riow will it be possible for the homemaker to 
 develop the next rung in the principle of effi- 
 ciency — that of "adequate," ''immediate," and 
 ** reliable" records? 
 
 I am not a business woman, but I have always 
 been impressed by the system and orderliness 
 with which business men preserve their data 
 and information. Rows of filing cabinets, in- 
 dexed tabs, drawers of little cards on which is 
 written what, when, and how much John Jones 
 bought or sold ; large, roomy envelopes for clip- 
 pings, binders and folders of different styles — 
 how very well and how carefully the ''records" 
 of every office, factory, and store are kept, so 
 that the needed information can be brought to 
 hand at once. This information may be the 
 memoranda of a sale of goods, or an order to the 
 
 f 126 1 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 shipping clerk, or the receipt for thousands of 
 dollars' worth of raw material. If the president 
 needs it, there the original paper Ues in the 
 record file; and probably there are six or more 
 carbons of the original paper (in many cases) 
 which six other persons have in their files as 
 duplicates. The record is "adequate" of the 
 matter in hand; it is, we suppose, a true or 
 "reliable" statement of the facts, and, most 
 important, it is "immediate" because it is in 
 just the right place, and the place where every 
 party concerned expects it to be. 
 
 In considering my home as a business, I 
 found that I, too, had records which I should 
 make, "reliable," "accurate," and "immediate." 
 There were sales checks from the butcher, gas 
 and electric receipts, cards of professional trades- 
 people, addresses of my friends. How should 
 I take care of them in an efficient manner .^^ 
 
 I dislike "system" as much as any woman 
 born, and the last thing I really am is a "system 
 fiend." But I found finally I just couldn't 
 afford to waste the time and nervous force 
 usually spent in putting away, hunting for and 
 
 [ 127 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 hauling things out of corners to find just the 
 right thing. 
 
 I used to keep accounts in one book and ad- 
 dresses in another book, and I pasted recipes 
 here and there and kept chppings poked away in 
 my desk. I tried it out in this shpshod manner 
 for some time and then I gave it up. I decided 
 that if my husband and other men used modern 
 fihng systems and cards in their offices I could 
 do the same in my business of homemaking. 
 
 I finally worked out what my husband calls 
 my **time-and-worry-saving family cabinet." I 
 bought a drawer, illustrated herewith, of 3 by 5 
 inch filing cards. The drawer will hold a thou- 
 sand cards costing about 75 cents. I divided 
 the cards under subheads which I will classify 
 later, and which, of course, must depend upon 
 the needs of the family. I keep this drawer on 
 the top of my desk, where I can use it every day, 
 and when you see how much information is 
 packed away into that little drawer fifteen inches 
 long I think you will be surprised. 
 
 "Isn't this card filing really very fussy?" 
 asked a friend of mine one day. "Doesn't it 
 
 [ns] 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 take too long to write everything down in such 
 detail?" 
 
 I asked her this: ''Does it take as long to 
 write on a card that David's red woollen cap, 
 sweater, and mittens are in the package at the 
 bottom-right of the cedar chest, as it does to pull 
 out all the other bundles first and have to pin 
 them back, or else forget that you put them in 
 the chest at all, and have to look in one trunk, 
 three closets, and a window-seat before you 
 remember that they were in the chest after all? " 
 
 Now my filing system, or any other sys- 
 tematic and accurate method of keeping home 
 records, saves motion, time, and money. 
 
 I believe in account books as far as they go, 
 and it certainly is better to keep accounts in 
 book form rather than not at all. Only notice 
 that bound books are never ruled just to suit 
 your needs. Then when one book is filled you 
 have to buy another. 
 
 With cards there is no such thing. If you 
 "muss up" something you simply throw the 
 card away without spoiling a whole page. And 
 you don't have to write very fine or use a large 
 
 [129] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 book. With these cards you simply take out 
 the card of the particular class of thing you want 
 and write on it. You may need several cards for 
 one class, or only one, and you can keep adding as 
 much as you wish. A card system expands ex- 
 actly with your needs, and there is no renewal. 
 
 Then think of the many kinds of things you 
 can keep record of in one place. You think 
 you put the address of that dyeing concern in 
 the "red" memorandum book, but you really 
 put it in the "black" memorandum book; and 
 you don't find it out until you have looked 
 through the "red" book twice and worried for 
 fear you'd lost it! 
 
 Let me give you the separate divisions of the 
 drawer as I have arranged it. Your needs 
 may not be so large, but on the other hand 
 they may be much larger. This is the cabinet 
 in detail, and just see what an all-round servant 
 I make of it: 
 
 1. HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 
 
 Subdivided by months, and with a yearly "recapitu- 
 lation." Separate cards for "Meats," "Groceries," 
 "Drugs," "Personal," etc., and for each of the children. 
 
 [130] 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 2. HOUSEHOLD RECORDS 
 
 A — Family Sizes Record C — Linen Record (num- 
 (shoes, hosiery, gloves, ber, cost, price and date 
 
 etc.) of purchase) 
 
 B — Clothes Storage Rec- D — Preserve Record 
 ord E — Pantry Record 
 
 F — Anniversary Record 
 G — Gift Record 
 
 3. LIBRARY RECORDS 
 
 A — Poetry F — Music, Repertoire, 
 
 B — Fiction Lyric, Humorous, Sacred 
 
 C — History G — Music to Buy 
 
 D — Reference 
 
 E — Books to Read or to Buy 
 
 4. FAMILY MEDICAL RECORD 
 
 A — Physician B — Dentist C — Oculist 
 
 5. RECORD OF ADDRESSES 
 
 A — Social B — Professional C — Special 
 
 6. HOUSE HINTS DIVISION 
 
 A — Toilet and Laundry D — Entertainment Sugges- 
 
 Hints tions 
 
 B — Baby Hygiene E — Jokes, Quotations, etc. 
 
 C — Garden and Flower 
 
 Hints 
 
 7. HOME FINANCIAL RECORDS 
 
 A — Taxes, Real Estate D — Bills Receivable 
 B — Document Record E — Bills Payable 
 
 C — Bank Records F — Personal Financial Rec- 
 
 ords, Club Dues, etc. 
 
 [ 131 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 8. GENEKAL INVENTORY 
 
 Subdivided for Clothes, Furniture, Jewellery, Silver, 
 Miscellaneous, etc. 
 
 First I v^ill take up the accounts. Under 
 every month's subdivision there is a set of 
 plain, ruled 3 by 5 inch cards. In my system 
 they number fourteen. They are as follows: 
 
 1. 
 
 Groceries 
 
 8. 
 
 Fuel, Gas, Electricity 
 
 2. 
 
 Meats 
 
 9. 
 
 Furnishings and Re- 
 
 3. 
 
 Vegetables and Fruit 
 
 
 pairs 
 
 4. 
 
 Bread, Milk 
 
 10. 
 
 Medical and Drugs 
 
 5. 
 
 Ice, Cleansers 
 
 11. 
 
 Church, Charity 
 
 6. 
 
 Service 
 
 n. 
 
 Amusement, Carfares 
 
 7. 
 
 Laundry, Soap, Starch, 
 
 , 13. 
 
 Cash Record 
 
 
 Bluing 
 
 14. 
 
 Recapitulation 
 
 These fourteen cards are my working records 
 of receipts and expenditures. When you see two 
 subjects Hke "Bread" and "Milk" on the same 
 card, that means that there is room for both on 
 the one card. When I make an expenditure 
 under any of these heads I simply put down the 
 date and the amount. Every two days or so I 
 take the receipts and sales checks from the bill- 
 hook in the kitchen and copy the totals on the 
 cards. Receipts for gas, rent, milk, etc., I file in 
 
 [ 132 1 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 a vertical letter-file having an alphabetical index, 
 which can be bought for 35 cents, and which is 
 the simplest device to file receipts accurately. 
 After the month is over all that is necessary is to 
 do my adding up and enter the totals for each 
 division on my recapitulation card, so that I 
 have a compact and handy record of what I 
 spent on any item during any month. 
 
 My first division under "Household Records" 
 is that of "Family Sizes Record." Under this 
 head I have cards on which I have written the 
 sizes of my husband's socks and gloves, his neck- 
 band, shoes, etc. On my own card I have my 
 waist, hose, corset, glove, and underwear meas- 
 ures. I also have a card for each child. When 
 I go shopping I fasten a clip on the cards and 
 take them in my bag, equipped against mistakes. 
 It used to be exasperating to notice, for instance, 
 some good underpriced socks, and then fail to 
 remember my husband's size. Or to see cheap 
 sandals for the children and not be able to recall 
 whether the boy wears a 6B or a 7B. 
 
 Then comes the "Clothes Storage Record." 
 When I lay away winter or summer garments 
 
 [133 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 and bedding I make out a card reading, perhaps, 
 like this: "David — three union suits; do next 
 season; box left lowest corner cedar chest"; and 
 when the time comes to use the things they are 
 found instantly, without my having to root 
 around hopelessly and say : "Why, I'm sure I put 
 them right there." So often we women lay 
 away a half-worn waist, intending to make it 
 over, and when we find time we can't find the 
 waist, and we go around saying: "Where did I 
 stuff that old pongee waist with the eyelet em- 
 broidery? " But not so with a " Clothes Storage 
 Record"! 
 
 My "Linen Record" is most practical and 
 money-saving because of its check upon the 
 laundress or laundryman. On the cards I mark 
 the sizes, cost and date of purchase of each class 
 and give each piece a separate number; A, means 
 large sheet; B, medium size; C, crib sheet. I 
 mark the letter and the date on each piece with 
 indelible ink. Under the picture of the cabinet 
 is shown an actual card. The other day a 
 laundry to which I had sent a special crib sheet 
 lost it and disputed the matter. I handed them 
 
 [134] 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 my duplicate list and showed that the number 
 of the missing piece corresponded with the entry 
 on my card: *'C — 8 — June, 1910." To my 
 surprise, instead of resenting it, the driver said: 
 "I wish more women would do it that way." 
 The record also enables me to judge the length 
 of wear of the pieces and whether I should buy 
 the same quahty again or not. 
 
 I have a "Preserve Record." I remember 
 how exasperated I used to be when I ran for a 
 can of peaches and found there wasn't another 
 can left. Now I keep a record and know just 
 what I have. So many cans of strawberry, 
 peach, quince. So many glasses of currant, 
 apple, and crabapple. My daily kitchen memo- 
 pad checks them as I use them, and these memos 
 are later transferred to the cards. 
 
 On the cards in my "Pantry Record" I 
 have written the time certain quantities of 
 supplies last me, as, "Sugar — four pounds a 
 week," etc. 
 
 I am very likely to forget a date, and there are 
 some dates we none of us like to forget, such as 
 anniversaries and birthdays. So I put them all 
 
 r 135 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 down in black and white on cards. Some of my 
 friends wonder how I manage to remember their 
 birthdays, and they give me a reputation for 
 thoughtfulness which belongs to my faithful 
 card cabinet! 
 
 I started my ''Gift Record" when a friend 
 sent me a duplicate present. I keep in the 
 record all the names of those I want to remember 
 and what I gave them last time. We are giving 
 my husband's younger sister, for example, a 
 piece of silver each year for a silver-chest, and 
 you see how helpful it is to know just what other 
 pieces I have already sent her. 
 
 We classify our books on the cards in my 
 ''Library Records" under poetry, fiction, etc. 
 Each book is on a separate card, and if some- 
 body borrows the book we put down name, 
 adddress, and date on the book's card. Our 
 "Library Record" includes music, because I play 
 the piano and my husband sings. So I made out 
 cards of all the music we own, under two heads, 
 "Vocal" and "Instrumental." When we want 
 to sing all we need to do is to go over to the card 
 index and make out our programme, without 
 
 [ 136 ] 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 pawing over the music itself, and the cards at 
 once suggest the pieces we want. Each piece 
 is numbered on the card to correspond with a 
 number in heavy blue pencil on the cover of 
 the music, close to the binding edge; so that in 
 searching through the pile we don't have to 
 yank and pull and mix up the sheets to iden- 
 tify a particular song; we simply look for the 
 number. Music-roll records are kept in the 
 same manner. 
 
 In both book and music classifications we have 
 a card for books and music we wish to buy. 
 Before we had such a card, many times, when 
 some one would tell us of a "good song" or a 
 fine book we should read or have, my hus- 
 band or I wrote the title down on a slip of 
 paper which promptly disappeared. Now we 
 simply get out one of the cards and down it 
 goes. 
 
 Our "Family Medical Record" I am par- 
 ticularly proud of, and so is our family doctor. 
 He thinks it an idea that ought to be widely 
 in use. We have three classifications: "Physi- 
 cian," "Dentist," "Oculist." Under "Physi- 
 
 [137] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 cian" we have a card for every one in the 
 family. My boy's card reads: 
 
 Vaccination (with vaccination certificate) . August, 1910 
 
 Measles January, 1911 
 
 Adenoids removed April, 1912 
 
 In any illness a physician asks first about 
 previous health and attacks of sickness; schools 
 require information on these points — all of 
 which questions are usually answered by the 
 mother in an indefinite way. 
 
 Under "Dentist" we also have a separate card 
 for each member of the family. On the back of 
 each card is a "tooth chart," which every den- 
 tist has in abundance. The dentist marks on 
 this what he does to the teeth, and we can look at 
 our charts, and see when that aching tooth was 
 last filled. 
 
 On the "OcuHst" card is the prescription for 
 my glasses, the date of the last eye-testing and 
 what each lens cost. 
 
 What I should do if I had to depend on the old 
 way of keeping addresses in "address books" I 
 surely don't know. Not long ago I searched an 
 
 [138] 
 
^^i:^. Mj>.<tr^. MmH-. 
 
 ji, A (73Xf'l' l 
 
 
 Av-Aio- B,.^^ /h,^. -gf SSiJ.^ 
 
 
 Gr-Q J-Jm^^ 'X u ' la . .^ 2. Jl4^3L 
 
 J^,.c ( c^£- ) (,ir K i>$) 
 
 C/-C6- Bt^'A h^ 01 •y/^geZ 
 
 BUSINESSLIKE EQUIPMENT FOR THE HOME 
 
 (1) Sample Card from the Home Record Cabinet 
 
 (2) The Time and Worry Saving Home Record Cabinet 
 
 (3) A Vertical Letter File for Receipts 
 
 (4) A Tickler Which Reminds the Busy Housewife 
 
 (5) A Vertical Filing Envelope for Saving Large Clippings 
 
 (6) A Book of Handy Labels for Home Use 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 old address book, only to find that several 
 friends had since removed to new streets, that 
 two had passed away and three had married. 
 Now I have an alphabetical index and put each 
 name on a card and file it under its proper letter. 
 When names change, as when one of my friends 
 marries, I simply throw out the card and make 
 a new one. I have one division for names of 
 friends and another for names of tradespeople 
 and for business cards of blanket cleaners, dyers, 
 dentists, etc. 
 
 The cards in my "House Hints" subdivisions 
 I use as much as or more than any other and find 
 them exceedingly helpful. You know how often 
 we read a good toilet or laundry suggestion in a 
 magazine and mean to save it. Or we do cut it 
 out but forget where we put it. When I see a 
 recipe for a massage lotion or something of that 
 kind it goes straight on a card which I can't lose. 
 Helpful ideas on baby hygiene or diet are filed 
 the same way. 
 
 Under another division I file bits of poetry, 
 stories and quotations which I should not like to 
 forget. I find this last becoming of more in- 
 
 [139j 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 terest and value; and once, when some of my 
 friends were to dinner and everybody ran out of 
 stories and witticisms, I made much fun by 
 bringing forth my ''system," which they all 
 agreed to be "a gold mine of the right stuff." 
 I haven't heard the last of my ''entertainment 
 by card system" yet! Some of the clippings on 
 all the subjects are too large for such a small 
 card, so I have them filed in a set of large 
 envelope folders which my husband brought 
 from the ofl&ce for me. I also file hints on 
 "entertainment" and games in these folders. 
 
 My husband attends to the "Home Financial 
 Records." Under this head we keep a record of 
 the valuable documents we have, such as deeds, 
 stock certificates, etc. The documents them- 
 selves are in a safe downtown, where all valuable 
 papers should be kept; but we have a list of 
 what they are at home, so that in case of accident 
 to my husband I shall be able to know exactly 
 what condition his affairs are in. A lawyer has 
 told us that this section of the cabinet is one of 
 the most sensible ideas he ever came across. He 
 says that no end of delay and difficulty fre- 
 
 [ 140 1 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 quently attends the settling of a man's affairs in 
 case of accident, just because his family doesn't 
 know accurately of their condition. A card 
 under "Taxes, Real Estate," tells when taxes 
 are due, when paid; a card for insurance, a 
 card for house lease, a card giving our pay- 
 ments on a small piece of property we hope 
 to own some day, tell us at a moment's no- 
 tice all we want to know about our financial 
 affairs. 
 
 The last division is "General Inventory," 
 subdivided for furniture, silver, jewellery, etc. 
 Such a list is only a common-sense protection 
 for any family and is an accurate statement 
 which is of immense value in case of theft or fire, 
 as insurance companies compel a listing of the 
 goods they are asked to be responsible for. 
 People really have more things than they are 
 aware of and often do not know their value until 
 it is put down in cold figures. We keep a du- 
 plicate card of the inventory with the documents 
 downtown in the safe, so that there will be 
 another copy undestroyed even if this box 
 should be burned. 
 
 [141] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 And all this information is contained in a 
 fifteen-inch box! 
 
 Besides my "cabinet box" I have worked out 
 one or two helpful points in the way of simple 
 records which I think every woman might adopt 
 with profit to herself. For instance, when I fill 
 a chest or a storage box with clothing, etc., 
 besides labelling each bundle that goes into the 
 chest or box I make a rough chart of the inside 
 of the receptacle, so that I can put my hand on 
 any desired article at once without disturbing 
 the others. 
 
 Again, on the inside of my medicine-chest door 
 I have written, for emergency's sake, a list of 
 the chief accidents and poisonings that are liable 
 to occur in a family, and their treatments. On 
 each bottle I write the date of purchase. Every 
 six months I overhaul the cabinet and throw away 
 medicines antedating that period, as I believe it is 
 dangerous to take stale medicines which may have 
 deteriorated from age and exposure. 
 
 I have also labelled the drawers of the chiffo- 
 nier that holds the children's clothes. I found 
 that I was always opening the wrong drawers. 
 
 [142 1 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 So I pasted neat labels, *' David's Underwear," 
 * 'Jean's Rompers," etc., on the drawers, and find 
 it saves time for me, and especially for a stranger 
 or nurse who might be called in to take care of 
 the house for a brief period. Such occasions are 
 bound to occur in every home at some time, no 
 matter how much care is exercised by the mem- 
 bers of the family, and I always think of this 
 and try to have my home in such order that it 
 would run smoothly even without my hand at 
 the helm. That is why I label my linen shelves, 
 the pantry shelves, laundry, etc., so that it 
 would facilitate laying away linen and supplies 
 by a stranger or a maid. 
 
 Some women who do a great deal of sewing 
 may find it very helpful to use a pasteboard box 
 or some other receptacle or drawer for neatly 
 and systematically filing away their paper pat- 
 terns, instead of using the usual haphazard 
 '^pattern bag." Pasteboard "guides" on which 
 the subjects may be written (such as ''Waists," 
 "Aprons," etc.) will be found convenient to 
 classify them quickly, and will save time, temper 
 and expense. 
 
 [143] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Every woman can very readily adapt these 
 ideas to her own needs and develop filing sys- 
 tems of her own. I know that any woman who 
 has once felt the comfort, satisfaction and pride 
 that come from the use of a systematic filing 
 method will never return to the slipshod ways of 
 the past. 
 
 Many women will say that it is not "interest- 
 ing" to keep home records in this systematic 
 way, and that they cannot be '* bothered" with 
 filing the ice receipts and checking up the 
 butcher's bill. 
 
 I want to ask such women why they are eager 
 to crowd the modern business ofiice for a small 
 and inadequate living wage? Will any woman 
 tell me why she has more chances for "self- 
 expression" if she tabulates figures, files data, or 
 makes out price-lists for typewriters or tailored 
 suits or carboys of drugs in a crowded office, in 
 manifestly unsesthetic surroundings, than if she 
 used that same abihty in tabulating figures, 
 data and price-lists in her own home, about her 
 own affairs, where she is surrounded by as 
 aesthetic a background as she chooses to make 
 
 [ 144 1 
 
RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 it, and where every stimulation of love and 
 companionship is offered her? Why does the 
 modern woman prefer to check up her em- 
 ployer's bills rather than her own? Why is it 
 less interesting to make out a card of family 
 sizes than it is to list hardware and drug sun- 
 dries, about which she knows nothing and which 
 do not concern her life one iota? 
 
 I believe the keeping of home records will 
 prove just as stimulating to any woman who 
 tries it as the keeping of an employer's records 
 — and there is the added weight of self-interest 
 in the home, which is lacking in business. The 
 efficient homemaker will believe that it is a 
 necessary part of her profession of homemaking 
 to keep her records "reliable, immediate, and 
 accurate," and that it is just as commendable 
 to have her home run in such a manner that a 
 stranger can run it in the same grooves as her- 
 self as it is desirable to have the cogs in a great 
 railway system go right on moving, even though 
 the finger of the president of the road ceases to 
 write his dictates. 
 
 [ 145 ] 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
 
 THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 COOK-BOOK 
 
 1 CAN recall the large brown-backed cook- 
 book which my mother used and which finally 
 became swelled to twice its original size by the 
 addition of clippings, pasted recipes, and house 
 hints stuffed in at the back and front, and 
 scattered among the pages. When the book 
 became of this unwieldy size, my mother would 
 threaten to make separate scrapbooks, com- 
 plaining she had mislaid the mincemeat recipe 
 Aunt Edith had given her, and had looked and 
 looked and couldn't find it ! 
 
 The average cook-book becomes mussed with 
 use. You want to see how many raisins the 
 coffee-cake recipe calls for, and you page the 
 book to see and you get it all soiled from your 
 doughy fingers. Or, splash ! go the eggs over the 
 mayonnaise recipe you are following from the 
 
 [146] 
 
NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 
 
 opened book before you. Your Southern friend 
 gives you her recipe for beaten biscuits, or that 
 eggless cake you mean to try, and you stick it 
 hurriedly into the back of the big cook-book, and 
 when you open the book the next time it is gone, 
 or, if there, the paper flies to the floor. 
 
 I have made for myself a filing cook-book that 
 avoids all these faults. I know there are card 
 cabinet cook-books on the market, but what I 
 wanted was a selected list of recipes, choice 
 recipes of my friends, or those I have tested 
 from magazines. I also use the large, regular 
 cook-books, but use them chiefly as works of 
 "reference." If a large book contains recipes 
 which I use often I transfer them to cards in the 
 drawer instead of using them in the book itself. 
 
 I either paste or write or typewrite the 
 recipes on cards. A small paper clip is fastened 
 on the front of the drawer and into it I stick 
 my card, so that it stands steady and enables me 
 to read from it as I go about the kitchen pre- 
 paring the requisite materials. 
 
 The "New Housekeeping Cook-Book," as I 
 call it, is just another drawer similar to the one I 
 
 [147 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPIN 
 
 described for use with household records, only 
 filled with larger cards — 6 by 4. I keep the 
 drawer over the kitchen table where I work, 
 and when I want to see how to make "tomato 
 puree," for instance, instead of laying the cook- 
 book on the table and mussing it all up, I 
 merely take the "tomato puree" card from the 
 drawer, stick it in a little clip on the outside, 
 and go about gathering my materials, without 
 touching the card, which I put back after use, 
 with clean fingers. The drawer should always 
 be placed at the eye-level, for easy reading. 
 
 I recently made another improvement in the 
 use of the drawer, and had it fitted on grooves 
 into my kitchen cabinet, under the cabinet top. 
 I had the front of the drawer slanted back at a 
 slight angle, so it could be read more easily, and 
 a piece of glass over the front insures the cards 
 being clean. I divided the drawer into sub- 
 heads as follows, although any preferred group 
 ing could be given: 
 
 Beverages Beans, Peas, Lentils 
 
 Bread, Rolls, Muffins, Biscuits Cakes and Icings 
 Cocktails Candies 
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 
 
 Desserts Eggs, Omelets, Rabbits 
 
 Fish, Lobster Fruits 
 
 Game, Poultry Fritters 
 
 Jelly, Preserves Ices and Creams 
 
 Meats Macaroni, Rice, Curries 
 
 a. Beef Oysters, Clams 
 
 b. Brains, Sweetbreads, etc. Puddings 
 
 c. Mutton, Lamb Potatoes 
 
 d. Pork Sauces 
 
 e. Veal Sherberts and Punches 
 Menus Soups 
 
 Pastry Special 
 
 Pickles and Catsups Vegetables 
 
 Salads Waffles 
 
 Under *' Meats" I have two cards of the 
 meats I generally prepare, divided into two 
 groups, one "requiring one hour or less," the 
 other from "one to four hours." Under the des- 
 sert card I have divisions, such as "Desserts 
 with Eggs," and another, "Desserts without 
 Eggs"; on another card under "Special" I have 
 a list of what I call " Complete Meals" — that is, 
 meals in which one or two balanced dishes give 
 a meal containing all necessary amounts of fats, 
 carbohydrates, protein and salts. I have a card 
 marked "Lunch Dishes" which aids as a re- 
 minder for that sometimes trying meal. Under 
 
 r 149 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ''Menu" I have several cards containing menus 
 I have read, or more frequently those I have 
 found particularly successful the times I tried 
 them at home. Another "Menu" card contains 
 a list of dishes for more formal meals. It used 
 to be that I would often come to the point of not 
 knowing ''what to have for dinner." Now just 
 a quick twirling of the cards in the card-cabinet 
 cook-book, and I am bound to find some happy 
 suggestion under "Dessert," "Meat" or "Vege- 
 table." 
 
 There are four points I am trying to cover 
 with this cook-book. As yet I have not had 
 time to finish them all, but when I have I shall 
 feel that I have made a valuable addition to the 
 accuracy of my recipes. A recipe must be 
 excellent — "reliable" — first. But is that all.^^ 
 Does not the housewife always ask the following 
 questions when trying a new recipe: 
 
 1. How long does it take 3. How much does it make? 
 
 to prepare? 
 
 2. How long does it take 4. How much does it cost? 
 
 to cook? 
 
 I am trying to answer each of these questions 
 
 f 150 1 
 
CROWN ROAST OF LAMB WITH PEAS AND 
 STEAMED WAFFLE POTATOES 
 
 Select parts from two loins of lamb containing from seven 
 to eleven ribs in each. Scrape the flesh from the bone between 
 the ribs, as far down as the lean meat and trim off the back- 
 bone. Keep the ribs on the outside, shape each piece in a 
 semi-circle and sew together to form a crown. Tie securely. 
 Cover each chop bone with a thin strip of salt pork to prevent 
 burning. Dredge with flour, sprinkle with salt and pepper, 
 and roast for an hour and a half until tender throughout. 
 Remove the cubes of fat and replace with paper frills. Serve 
 on a hot platter, with green peas in the centre of the crown, 
 and steamed waffle potatoes around the base. 
 
 Specimen recipe card with illustration, from 
 
 FiUng Cook Book 
 
 The New Housekeeping FiUng Cook Book 
 
NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 
 
 for each recipe. You see what a point of exact- 
 ness and rehabihty such answers would give. I 
 have worked it out with * 'Oyster Souffle," for 
 instance. I have written in the corner of the 
 card: 
 
 1. 15 minutes 2. 20 minutes 3. Serves six 4. 35 cents 
 
 A friend has made herself a cabinet like mine 
 and she says she finds the plan a fine one to help 
 her maid to learn to cook. She gives the maid 
 one card at a time to prepare, and it seems easier 
 for the maid to follow the one card than to read 
 in a book, where the double page of recipes 
 is confusing. The maid said she would 
 "cook all of them cards yet," and the plan 
 acts as an incentive to learn one card after 
 another. 
 
 I can hardly express the satisfaction that this 
 filing cook-book gives me. As the drawer holds 
 a thousand cards, I have plenty of room to add 
 the many new and appetizing dishes whose 
 recipes I see in magazines. I make a point to 
 clip all interesting recipes from booklets, or 
 elsewhere, and these I first keep in the large 
 
 [ 151 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 filing envelopes I mentioned before. Then I 
 try, or "test," each recipe, to find out if I really 
 like it, and wish to include it among my staple 
 dishes. If it proves a success, then I copy it on 
 a card for the drawer itself, in this way making 
 the drawer a "blue-ribbon" cook-book of only 
 the tested and most choice recipes. 
 
 [152] 
 
CHAPTER TEN 
 
 APPLYING THE WAGE SCHEDULE AND 
 
 BONUS IDEAS TO THE SERVANT 
 
 PROBLEM 
 
 In previous chapters I have shown how the 
 first nine principles of industrial efficiency can be 
 applied to the tasks of homemaking, and how 
 these ideas are especially helpful to the woman 
 who does her own work. The points of ''ideals," 
 ''common sense," the "counsel" she must seek, 
 how she can "standardize" the tasks, operations 
 and conditions of housework, "dispatching" and 
 "scheduling" these tasks like trains, and, last, 
 keeping her home records "reliable, immediate, 
 and accurate" — all these we have applied to 
 the woman who is her own servant. 
 
 Thus far, then, we have been studying how to 
 apply the practical points of the efficiency doc- 
 trine; there remain the three last points, which 
 are largely ethical — those of the "fair deal," 
 "discipline," and the "efficiency reward," and 
 
 [153 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 which do not concern the woman herself as a 
 worker as much as they do the worker or servant 
 she employs. 
 
 The real final goal of all the efficiency doctrine 
 is not that a given task be done in such a time 
 without waste motion, or with a certain tool; 
 the final goal is the increased efficiency of the 
 worker, and her increased material and mental 
 success. This is the true goal whether we speak 
 of the woman who applies these principles to 
 herself as worker, or whether she applies them 
 to a worker she hires. 
 
 Let us consider how the ''fair deal" and 
 ''efficiency reward" concern the servant in the 
 home; because in factories and shops where 
 efficiency prevails, the greatest pains is taken to 
 develop the individual workman. Heads and 
 bosses of departments try hard to find out just 
 the particular kind of work for which a man is 
 fitted; elaborate bonus systems and schemes of 
 wage-payment have this end in view — the 
 material and mental prosperity of the worker. 
 It is because it has this end in view, and success- 
 fully accomplishes it, that there are almost no 
 
 [154] 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 strikes in factories where efficiency and scientific 
 management of men prevail. This is true in 
 spite of the fact that efficiency has most fre- 
 quently been applied in trades where strikes are 
 most frequent. 
 
 We women have talked much about ''solving 
 the servant problem" for years; yet conditions 
 seem to grow worse rather than better. Fewer 
 servants are recruited each year, and the good 
 Irish and German stock which entered service 
 twenty years ago is being replaced largely by 
 the southern European, Bohemian, and Slav 
 girls, who are much harder to train into our 
 American ideals. Various and many plans have 
 been tried with fair or no success; and the 
 "problem" seems to grow more acute and com- 
 plicated all the time. 
 
 After studying with me the new ideas of 
 efficiency and scientific management applied to 
 the home, a friend of mine who employs a maid 
 tried out the efficiency ideas which I have 
 explained in previous chapters. She standard- 
 ized her household tasks, she made schedules 
 for the maid to follow, she gave the maid the 
 
 [155 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 right tools to use in the kitchen, and in every 
 way applied the "new housekeeping" in the 
 work which the maid did for her. After some 
 preliminary diflSculties in getting it applied, the 
 housework went on as if done by magic, and 
 the smooth-running way in which her home 
 was maintained delighted my friend beyond 
 measure. 
 
 One day, however, her maid said to her: '*I 
 ain't complaining, ma'am, and I'd rather work 
 this way than the old way, now that I've learnt; 
 but this idea of yours don't seem to work so 
 much good to the girls as it does to you. I can 
 do more work by doing as you say, and easier, 
 too; but it don't make no more pay for me, and 
 even when I hurry up and get done sooner I 
 don't get no more time to myself. Seems as if 
 when I do more I ought to get more, but I can't 
 quite figure it out." 
 
 "I tried," said my friend, "to make Katy see 
 that the object of all my ideas was to make her 
 work easier. She acknowledged that, but she 
 proved that she was doing more, and she didn't 
 see that my scheme helped her financially even 
 
 [ 156 1 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 if it did reduce the effort with which she did her 
 work. *'When I thought it over," my friend 
 continued, "I saw that Katy was right. I had 
 been applying the practical points of the effi- 
 ciency gospel, so that Katy was able to get more 
 work done than before I taught her, but I had 
 forgotten to apply the last three ethical points of 
 the efficiency gospel, those of 'fair deal,' 'dis- 
 ciphne,' and the 'efficiency reward,' to the one 
 who was benefiting me by her increased skill. 
 
 "Katy gets more work done because she 
 apphes the schedules and plans I have given her. 
 This does benefit me, but, as she rightly asked, 
 where does she come in.^ In other words, where 
 does the worker or employee benefit because 
 the employer adopts the new and more efficient 
 housekeeping? It was distinctly up to me to see 
 how a plan which benefits me would benefit 
 Katy as well." 
 
 So my friend began to think it over, and 
 recalled that in almost every industry, in all the 
 factories which we visited, or had heard about, 
 the conditions of work, the wages and the hours 
 have all been standardized by law. But Katy 
 
 [157] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 is still in the same barbaric state of vassalage 
 which was once common in all industries. 
 
 "I didn't like to admit it to myself," my friend 
 continued, "but when I looked at the matter 
 squarely I had to concede that my attitude to- 
 ward Katy is that of an arbitrary General toward 
 his soldiers. I say, 'Do this,' and I expect her to 
 do it without question; not because it is right 
 or fair or the best way, but just because I say so. 
 And I expect her to accept such rooms and board 
 and hours and comfort as I choose to give her, 
 and to be satisfied even if I stop her in the 
 middle of the breadmaking to button my dress, 
 or if I have company on washday. Now that's 
 the naked truth, Christine, and I couldn't get 
 away from it. 
 
 "After I got to that point I began to lose my 
 wonder that a girl hesitates before entering the 
 'servant class.' I began to see that a girl in this 
 class is isolated from her companions and looked 
 down on by them as inferior to typists and 
 clerks. Her health is not cared for. I read the 
 report of one investigation board which tells us 
 there is a higher percentage of consumption 
 
 [158 1 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 among servants than among other workers; a 
 second commission reported that more insanity 
 is found in this class; and Miss Jane Addams, 
 writing recently, says 'there is more danger of 
 prostitution for the girl in domestic service than 
 in any other occupation.' We give her no 
 mental stimulus nor impulse to improve. Most 
 important, we give her no wage stimulation 
 which might urge her to better work. This is 
 how I had been treating Katy." 
 
 "Well," I asked, "how did you apply these 
 ethical points to Katy.^" 
 
 "First," answered my friend, "I changed my 
 whole attitude toward her. I dropped the dicta- 
 torial idea of ordering her around and feeling 
 that she is a subordinate. That is a false rela- 
 tion, and is the very heart of the difficult 
 situations between mistress and maid. Under 
 scientific management there is no arbitrary 
 commanding officer — there is ' team work' of 
 equals. 
 
 "But before I assumed this new attitude 
 toward Katy I had also to assume a new attitude 
 to my profession of homemaking. I had to 
 
 [159] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 think of it as worthy of my highest efforts, not 
 degrading or unimportant. Then with this ideal 
 firmly in my mind, I could the more easily con- 
 vince Katy of the dignity of her work. Great 
 soldiers or business men are not willing to ask 
 others to do what they themselves would be 
 unwilling to do. The best mistresses are those 
 who will be able and proud to perform any detail 
 of work, just as the greatest printer I know, who 
 is also worth thousands, is able to set up the 
 most complicated machine in his shop, from the 
 first screw to the last. 
 
 *'Then I made up my mind that Katy should 
 share some of the benefits to workers which are 
 granted in other industries. Consider what fac- 
 tories and business houses do for the comfort and 
 health of their employees nowadays. They 
 maintain, among other things, reading-rooms, 
 clubs, social centres, nurses, matrons and recrea- 
 tion roofs. I saw to it first that Katy's room 
 was properly heated, that it had proper light 
 and ventilation and was furnished comfortably. 
 Her room was all this in a way, but when I got 
 at it I found much to be desired. Then I gave 
 
 \ 160 1 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 her a high stool to use for her work in the kitchen, 
 and I trained her to see that the kitchen was 
 well ventilated. I saw that she had comfortable 
 shoes and that she observed personal hygiene. 
 By doing these little things for Katy she got it 
 into her head that I was giving her a 'fair deal,' 
 and at the same time it insured her devotion 
 and interest to myself. I got for her some good 
 books, and books on domestic science of the 
 simpler kind so that she might develop mentally 
 and form some broader idea of homemaking 
 than the limited round of daily duties teaches 
 her. 
 
 ''Then I went to a large shop and talked to the 
 foreman and asked him to explain to me the new 
 attitude of scientific management that the 
 employer is assuming toward his helpers. 
 
 "He said that under scientific management 
 the employer assumes the responsibility of enabling 
 the employee to work under the best conditions. 
 You see how this is entirely opposed to the old 
 theory of making the employee work by force, 
 or putting the responsibility on the worker. 
 The old way, he said, was for the foreman or 
 
 [161] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 manager to say: 'Here's a casting; go and anneal 
 it.' And the workman chose his own tools and 
 his own time, and did the job just as he thought 
 best. If it was a good job all right, but if it 
 was a poor one the worker didn't much care. 
 Now it is all different. Under scientific manage- 
 ment the employer first studies the task to be 
 done, and the employer finds the best way, the 
 shortest way, and the best tool to use in doing it. 
 
 *'Then the foreman hands the worker a card, 
 a kind of instruction card, which tells him 
 exactly how to do this task, what tools to use, 
 and how long it will take. So the man must 
 do a good job, do you see? The employer has 
 planned so well that the worker cannot fail. 
 And because the employer has planned so well 
 his workmen accomplish more work with less 
 effort and less waste, and have become efficient 
 workmen. 
 
 "I had done all this for Katy. I had studied 
 her household tasks and found that bread takes 
 so long to make, that it takes thirty minutes to 
 tidy the rooms, and that the best way to wash 
 dishes or iron or do some other household task 
 
 [162] 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 takes only so long. I had made Katy follow 
 schedules based on these data, and her efficiency 
 was greatly increased. 
 
 "Now as to where Katy comes in: I found out 
 how the other workers under scientific manage- 
 ment receive an incentive to do more work. 
 This foreman explained just how his men receive 
 what is called an 'efficiency reward.' All the 
 workers receive so much as a daily wage for 
 certain standard amounts of work. But if they 
 do more than the standard — that is, reach a 
 high percentage of efficiency — they receive a 
 * bonus' of extra money. But it is not always 
 quantity of work that is the goal of efficiency, but 
 quality, skill, and more responsibility in work. 
 The foreman said that before scientific manage- 
 ment was in practice in this shop the workmen 
 used to do the least amount of work they could, 
 many of them, and that word would often be 
 passed around secretly among themselves to do 
 just as little work as possible. Why.f^ Because 
 under the old plan it was the employer, and the 
 employer only, who benefited by the workman 
 doing more work. But under the new plan the 
 
 [163] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 more the worker does the more he gains in actual 
 increase in pay. And if he shows especial ap- 
 titude and skill he is promoted to positions of 
 responsibility. 
 
 "Now do you see where Katy was right .^ She, 
 too, must receive an ' efficiency reward ' for more 
 work done, or for the higher skill she develops. 
 Nothing acts so strongly upon a worker as this 
 money or promotion incentive to greater output 
 or skill. But it is just this stimulus that my 
 Katy and other Katies are not given under the 
 old plan. They see themselves drudging away 
 forever at the same old pay, with no chance to 
 rise. Under those conditions what is the use of 
 trying to do your work better, or staying in one 
 place any length of time?" 
 
 " How did you give Katy this extra stimulus? " 
 I asked. 
 
 "First," said my friend, "I thought about 
 Katy's hours of work and the wages she gets 
 a week. This 'hours' question is one of the 
 most difficult in our whole readjustment of the 
 servant problem. Nearly all girls will tell you 
 that the hours are so long they ' never have any 
 
 [ 164 ] 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 time to themselves,' and that their work is never 
 done. We have extra company and keep them 
 very late, or we ask them to change their Thurs- 
 day suddenly to suit our convenience. Yet we 
 never make it up to them. 
 
 "I first standardized her work, her tools, her 
 operations, basing on them schedules for her to 
 follow. Katy at once did more work for me, with 
 less effort to herself, in the same time. Here I 
 am the gainer. But Katy must gain too. She 
 must have free time and extra incentive to work. 
 
 "Now Katy gets $5 a week as a houseworker, 
 which is about 80 cents a day. I made up the 
 following schedule of wages and hours based on 
 this sum: 
 
 katy's daily time schedule 
 Regular hours of work (at 8 cents an hour) 
 
 7 A.M. — 3 P.M. 
 5 P.M. — 8 P.M. 
 
 11 work hours daily at 8 cents 
 
 REGULAR OFF TIME 
 
 Work done in these hours 10 cents an hour 
 
 3 P.M. — 5 P.M. 
 After 8 p.m. 
 Sunday afternoons or alternate Thursdays 
 
 [165] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 "This simple time schedule brought out these 
 points: that Katy's regular hour- wage should be 
 based on about 8 cents an hour; and that I 
 should give her 10 cents an hour for extra or 
 over time. Her regular hours were as given, 
 leaving two hours off in the afternoon, when she 
 was free to mend, read or go out for a walk. I 
 know that maids do have hours off, but they are 
 always subject to mistresses' whims. On my 
 schedule it was understood that Katy's free 
 hours would be inviolate unless they were con- 
 sidered extra hours at extra pay, just as they are 
 in a hospital or factory. If I wanted Katy's 
 services during those two hours, or after hours, 
 as when dinner was late or extra company 
 delayed the work, then I paid for it. If I asked 
 her to give up her Thursday to assist for an 
 unexpected guest, I paid her by the hour, or 
 about 50 cents for the afternoon. 
 
 "In other words, I trained Katy by my 
 efficiency methods to become a trained worker, 
 and then I paid her as trained workers are paid 
 in business houses or factories." 
 
 "Yes," I commented, "but isn't it true that 
 [166] 
 
THE SERVANT PROBLEM 
 
 many mistresses do already train their maids 
 and give them privileges and favours? Yet it 
 seems that the more they get the more they 
 want, and in cases where the maids have been 
 treated with the utmost fairness they have 
 nevertheless left their mistresses unexpectedly 
 and when most needed." 
 
 ''That is true," said my friend, "but I feel 
 that when the present mistress-slave relation is 
 changed to a businesslike one of employer-em- 
 ployee, with schedule hours and extra pay for 
 extra work, the service will be put, as it should 
 be, on the same plane as in other employments, 
 and these present troubles will not occur any 
 more than they do in my husband's office. 
 
 "By this system we not only give Katy a 
 'fair deal,' but we also put in force the point of 
 'discipline.' Certain work is scheduled for her 
 and she must accomplish it. My plans must be 
 carried out; she must feel the responsibility of 
 her work and not shirk it. When she under- 
 stands my plans, based on the best way to do 
 her work, she must accept this programme and 
 carry it through. 
 
 [167] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 "'The 'discipline' of the Navy shows what I 
 mean: the men have a spirit of loyalty to their 
 work; even though it is hard, they take pride in 
 it, and are proud that they belong to the ser- 
 vice. It is something of this spirit of loyalty 
 and pride in even difficult work — a willingness 
 to *stand by' and do their best' — that must 
 characterize the 'discipline' of the servant to 
 make her a success. 
 
 "But," continued my friend, "other plans 
 and means can be used to increase the efficiency 
 of servants, and raise the standards of their 
 work." 
 
 [168 
 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
 INCREASING SERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 1 HE stimulation of increased pay," con- 
 tinued my friend, "is probably the strongest 
 spur to increased effort that we can give the 
 servant or any other worker. It is because we 
 wish to have some basis for measuring this 
 extra' pay, or 'bonus,' that I worked out the 
 wage-schedule given in the last chapter. 
 
 ''My idea, like that of Mr. Taylor, is that 
 every worker should be paid first a day-wage, of 
 settled amount, just because he puts himself at 
 your disposal as a worker. But in order to 
 increase the efficiency of the worker, we must 
 give this additional ' bonus' or ' reward' above 
 and beyond the day-wage. It is the familiar 
 example of the salesman who has a regular 
 salary and 'commissions.' It is the extra per 
 cent, given on his commissions that stimulates 
 the man to increase his sales. 
 
 r 169 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 "It is harder to arrange bonus rewards in 
 the home than in the factory, but some can be 
 planned. There are certain dishes, certain whole 
 menus, the mastery of which might be held out 
 to a cook as a stimulus for her increased effi- 
 ciency. A mistress could say to her cook: 
 'Here are twelve dishes, or six luncheons, that I 
 want you to know how to cook, just all by 
 yourself. When you can serve these without 
 any aid from me I will give you so much. ' Or 
 she might put responsibility with the children 
 as another incentive, promising to raise the 
 maid's wages when she could relieve her of 
 certain details of their care. Another bonus 
 might be given when the maid had learned to do 
 the ironing, so that a washerwoman need not be 
 employed so often. 
 
 "An excellent bonus is the oflFer of two weeks' 
 vacation, with pay, to any servant who has been 
 in steady employment for one year. Another, 
 giving the maid the whole of Thanksgiving Day, 
 Christmas Day, or other holiday. If the family 
 celebrates either Thanksgiving Day or Christ- 
 mas Day at home the other may be granted as a 
 
 [ no ] 
 
SERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 bonus to the servant, or she may be given extra 
 pay for working on hoHdays. Extra pay during 
 prolonged stays of guests is only another side of 
 the 'fair deal.' 
 
 "I have found that young girls employed as 
 servants often deplore that they never have a 
 morning when they can sleep late after a party 
 or dance. Perhaps we never even thought of 
 that, and how good it would seem to sleep late 
 once in a while just as we do! The girls have 
 Thursday and Sunday afternoons off, but always 
 must be up again the next morning early. An 
 easy way of making a bonus would be to count 
 all day Sunday as two Thursday afternoons, 
 and let the girl off from Saturday night until 
 Monday morning, so that she could sleep late 
 Sunday at some friend's house if she wished. 
 
 "It is impossible to estimate the stimulus that 
 some form of bonus gives to the worker. Give 
 a girl a bonus like some of these, or tell her you 
 will raise her wages wLjn she can cook ten 
 dinners from your cook-book, and see how the 
 incentive works! She will probably become 
 enthusiastic and interested in her work, because 
 
 [m] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 she will see that you want to give her an effi- 
 ciency reward as well as to consider your own 
 benefits from her increased efficiency." 
 
 This successful experiment of my friend to 
 apply the ethical points of the efficiency doc- 
 trine to her maid has stimulated me to investi- 
 gate the subject further. Under present condi- 
 tions the servant works in isolation in the home, 
 removed from social pressure, which induces 
 competition, and hence skill. In the factory 
 "Katy" sees other girls at work, and there is a 
 rivalry as to which does the most and is the 
 most successful. At present there are no effi- 
 cient standards for the servant. The demand is 
 far greater than the supply, and hence a servant 
 of very poor skill stands a chance of employ- 
 ment. On the roof of one of the largest machine 
 shops in the country hangs the permanent sign, 
 "Skilled Workmen Wanted." In this factory 
 a system of demerits and merits exists in which 
 the workers practically grade themselves. The 
 factory has established high standards of work, 
 and when a workman presents himself he is not 
 questioned, but put to work at his own price. 
 
 [172] 
 
ERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 If he can satisfy the standards set, he will be 
 retained; if he can exceed them, he receives 
 extra pay; if he cannot *'make good," he auto- 
 matically puts himself out of work. Now, some 
 such graded ^pressure of work may in time re- 
 place in the home the social pressure exerted on 
 the "Katies" of the outside world. 
 
 But until we raise the standards of work in 
 our homes, which would make such a graded 
 pressure possible, we must have recourse to 
 other forms of incentive. A whole chapter 
 might be written on the psychology of sugges- 
 tion and surroundings on the worker. The light, 
 cheery kitchen with sanitary fittings and decora- 
 tive utensils cannot fail to react cheerily and 
 happily on its worker. "Like mistress like 
 maid/' is an old saying, but it is true to psy- 
 chological laws, and we know that neatness, 
 thrift, and order in the mistress will tend to 
 evoke the same attributes in the maid. Imita- 
 tion is one of the strongest means of increasing 
 efficiency in any line. Most of our human 
 progress is due to imitation of what some other 
 individual originated and used, wore, or ate. 
 
 [173] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Servant efficiency can be increased by setting 
 for the servant an example of neatness, economy, 
 and dexterity in work, which she will sub- 
 consciously imitate. 
 
 Not only in material matters will this point of 
 imitation increase the servant's efficiency, but 
 also in the psychical attitude of the mistress to 
 the maid. As my friend said, how can a maid 
 believe in the dignity of homemaking if the 
 mistress herself considers it beneath her, and 
 thinks it fit only for hired workers? How can a 
 maid regard her work as worthy of her best 
 efforts if the mistress thinks housework beneath 
 her, and never takes an active interest in it.^* It 
 is only when the maid feels that the mistress 
 believes in the tremendous importance and value 
 of true housekeeping that she will imitate the 
 attitude of her employer. 
 
 The new idea of scientific management in 
 handling workmen in factories is to enforce a 
 spirit of "team-work between equals." The 
 **boss" has given place to the trained helper, 
 who guides rather than dictates. His aim is not 
 to make everybody responsible for work but 
 
 [174] 
 
SERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 himself, but to assume co-responsibility with 
 the worker. This different attitude which the 
 "boss" assumes toward work is reflected in the 
 worker. So, too, the maid will imitate this 
 mental attitude of work if the mistress responds 
 and sees that their work must also be "team- 
 work of equals." It is an actual definite rule 
 in many scientifically managed shops that supe- 
 riors say "mister" in addressing the humblest 
 workman. How many good potential servants 
 have become poor stenographers because of the 
 odium of the name "Bridget".'^ 
 
 Another means of increasing servant elEciency 
 is to stimulate the loyalty of the worker. We 
 work best for those we love. This loyalty can be 
 generated by the mistress assuming the "team- 
 work" attitude, and by her genuine interest in 
 the worker. We can never have loyalty unless 
 we have some degree of equality. Servants of 
 the "old days" are universally spoken of as 
 loyal. These servants were loyal, I think on the 
 final analysis, because in those days servants 
 were much more a part of the family in which 
 they served than is true of servants to-day. 
 
 \ 175 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 The old "mammies" and "followers" who some- 
 times made great sacrifice for master or mistress 
 did so because they felt it was for one of their 
 own family. It may be harder to stimulate this 
 attitude to-day; but we have examples of the 
 loyalty of workers in factories and shops, which 
 always result when the workers feel that their 
 employer is honestly desirous of serving their 
 best interests. It is this loyalty, this "service 
 plus" attitude of the worker to his employer, 
 that the eflSciency gospel is peculiarly able to 
 develop. 
 
 Another strong psychological means to in- 
 crease servant eflSciency is to stimulate the ser- 
 vant's interest in her work. I do not mean 
 stimulation in the result of labour, but training 
 the servant to get pleasure in the doing of good 
 work. Experiments in the kitchen, new dishes, 
 new ways of serving, or the testing of new 
 devices, are all means to create interest. Work 
 done because the worker likes to do it is always 
 done well. Pleasure generally accompanies in- 
 terest, and if the worker can be made to enjoy 
 her work, her eflSciency will certainly increase. 
 
 [176 1 
 
SERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 One of the interesting points experimented 
 with in factories where workers were employed 
 at tasks requiring severe strain or skill, particu- 
 larly among women workers, was that called 
 * ' resting periods . ' ' Instead of letting the worker 
 continue for a long stretch at difficult or tire- 
 some work, the workers were made to stop for 
 certain periods and do something pleasurable, 
 like going outdoors, moving about, talking, or 
 even dancing. This few moments' absolute 
 change of position and attention made it possible 
 for the girls to return to the difficult task and 
 do it several points higher in efficiency than if 
 they had continued without a change. There 
 are many women kind enough to give the ser- 
 vant change of work, or leisure, but too often 
 there has not been intelligent enough planning 
 to arrange the tasks so that the monotony of 
 standing, for instance, is varied. This idea of 
 "resting periods" should be as capable of in- 
 creasing the efficiency of the servant in the 
 home as it is that of the factory worker. 
 
 Even if we have done everything possible to 
 increase the efficiency and prosperity of the 
 
 [177] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 worker, we have not completely done so, in my 
 opinion, until conditions permit the servant to 
 live her own life outside the home in which she 
 works during the day. I believe that we are 
 gradually coming to the abolishment of a per- 
 manent serving class in our homes. There is 
 everything to be said against a servant living in 
 one's home and not being a part of it. Even 
 though we raise the standard of the servant class 
 to the dignity of skilled houseworkers we shall 
 never absolutely solve the question until the 
 worker ceases to live with us. I know it is not 
 an entirely original thought with me, but I can 
 see no practical reason why we shall not have 
 servants — skilled servants — work for us, who 
 live their own independent lives at their own 
 homes, and come to us daily as washerwomen 
 and seamstresses do now, or as workers go to 
 office and factory. This is now done quite 
 extensively in New York City flats and apart- 
 ments where room space is at a premium, and 
 particularly by the coloured workers. I believe 
 we will come to it in all our homes. We would 
 have to pay them more, but this increase would 
 
 [ 178 ] 
 
SERVANT EFFICIENCY 
 
 be balanced by the reduced overhead expenses 
 that every permanent servant entails, and the 
 necessity of having fewer rooms and thus smaller 
 houses. 
 
 I believe, thoroughly believe, that by adopt- 
 ing more definite hours, by attending to the 
 comfort, hygiene, and relaxation of our several 
 "Katies" by exchanging our dictatorial attitude 
 for one of fairness, and by offering a stimulus of 
 extra money — of a bonus — and a promotion 
 for increased efficiency, we women would very 
 greatly solve the "servant problem." 
 
 Just as now we support extensive training 
 schools for nurses, as well as business training 
 schools and colleges, besides the forms of train- 
 ing given by domestic-science courses, agricul- 
 tural institutes, and those trade or professional 
 schools where work or practice is combined with 
 learning or mental development, I believe we 
 will come to have large institutes which shall 
 teach housework and homemaking in a practical 
 way; where courses will be given on marketing, 
 buying materials, sanitation, standard practice 
 in housework and cooking — institutes which 
 
 [179 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 will graduate, not teachers, but trained workers 
 to take the place of our present unskilled servant 
 class. I believe that is what we are coming to, 
 and the signs are already on the horizon. But 
 the mistresses must themselves be ready, which 
 you know, my readers, as well as I do, they are 
 not. 
 
 [180] 
 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
 
 DEVELOPING THE HOMEMAKER'S 
 PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 We have talked a great deal about methods 
 and systems, plans and schedules in the house- 
 hold: now comes the most vital, the most diffi- 
 cult point of all, and yet the keystone of the 
 whole matter — the personal attitude of the woman 
 toward her work. 
 
 Without properly applying the modern ideas 
 of efficiency to her own mind (which is in itself a 
 complete and separate organization) the whole 
 plan of "the new housekeeping" falls to pieces. 
 No stream can rise higher than its source, and 
 no household efficiency can be greater than the 
 personal efficiency of the woman who directs it. 
 This explains why there are literally millions of 
 women in the world to-day who feel "up against 
 it" about their households. They have helpful 
 household magazines a-plenty, and labour-sav- 
 
 [181] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ing devices a-plenty, but the never-ending-ness, 
 the detailed-ness, the wearing-ness of their work 
 become too much for them. It closes over women 
 like water over a drowning person, and women 
 confess themselves overcome, actually assum- 
 ing the mental attitude, in regard to their 
 work, of slave to master, instead of master to 
 slave. 
 
 I never realized how terribly true and wide- 
 spread this condition is until I became consulting 
 staff contributor on the greatest woman's maga- 
 zine in the world, and received daily batches 
 of letters from women of all classes, incomes, and 
 temperaments, from all over the world. The 
 burden of their story has always the same 
 terrible minor note of cowed despair in it, 
 whether they live on the plains of Nebraska or 
 on the Scotch heaths across the sea — the same 
 outcry against something that seems to stifle and 
 bind them ; the same despairing resignation that 
 there is no possible relief; the same feeling of 
 personal helplessness. And, I am not at all 
 ashamed to say, I have experienced the same 
 feeling with regard to my own household, especi- 
 
 [182 1 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 ally with the problem of caring for small children 
 with but little help. 
 
 The actual, widespread state of mind of many 
 millions of women may be classified and divided 
 about as follows, as I have excellent reason to 
 believe after the closest and most confidential 
 correspondence with many hundreds of women 
 everywhere: 
 
 (1) A general feeling that they are weighted 
 
 down by fate and circumstances, and 
 that their housework is a kind of ogre 
 who has them in his grip, from which 
 they cannot escape, or against which 
 they do not seem to be making any 
 headway. 
 
 (2) An attitude which mistakes the physical 
 
 work of housekeeping for the real ends 
 of homemaking — which thinks it is 
 making a home when in reality it is 
 only keeping a house; which measures 
 housekeeping ability by the amount 
 and exhaustiveness of the physical 
 work accomplished. 
 [ 183 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 (3) An automatic, dull sort of attitude which 
 
 goes through the routine with as little 
 thought or analysis as possible, follow- 
 ing any traditional methods, aiming 
 only to get it finished as soon as pos- 
 sible, and skeptical of any new way of 
 getting work accomplished. 
 
 (4) A mania for some one phase of house- 
 
 work — such as cleanliness, decoration, 
 cooking, etc., on which all originality 
 and effort is spent, to the neglect of 
 general efficiency. 
 
 (5) A puttering love for all housework, to 
 
 the extent that work is prolonged, 
 elaborated, and repeated, which takes 
 up several times more energy than nec- 
 essary. 
 
 (6) A general lack of confidence, and in- 
 
 ability to find and apply remedies for 
 conditions they know to be wrong; a 
 procrastination in applying remedies 
 they already know to be effective; a 
 half-heartedness and lack of patience 
 and thoroughness in applying any new 
 [184] 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 methods or routine; failure to main- 
 tain discipline over themselves. 
 (7) An attitude of mere tolerance toward 
 housework — preferring business or 
 other careers, looking impatiently and 
 contemptuously on all housework, hop- 
 ing to be relieved of it entirely some 
 day, and exchange it for something 
 "more interesting." 
 
 Every one of these altitudes of mind is really 
 poisonous and antagonistic to either efficiency or 
 the highest personal happiness and character. 
 These seven typical attitudes of mind have hung 
 like millstones around the neck of the real 
 emancipation and development of women. The 
 first great work of eflBciency in the home, and of 
 liberation of women from household drudgery, 
 is to exchange any or all of these attitudes for 
 the efficient attitude, my interpretation of which 
 I write down here in italics so as to give it every 
 possible emphasis: 
 
 First of all, the efficient attitude of mind for the 
 housewife and homemaker is to realize that, 
 [185] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 no matter how difficult and trying are the 
 
 household tasks and burdens she finds placed 
 
 upon her, there positively are ways to meet and 
 
 conquer them efficiently — if she approaches 
 
 these problems vigorously, hopefully, and 
 
 patiently. 
 
 Second, that far from being dull drudgery, home- 
 
 making in all its details is fascinating and 
 
 stimulating if a woman applies to it her best 
 
 intelligence and culture. 
 
 Third, that no matter how good a housekeeper 
 
 and homemaker a woman may already be, she 
 
 will be eager not only to try, but to persistently 
 
 and intelligently keep on trying, to apply 
 
 in her home the scientific methods of work 
 
 and management already proved and tried 
 
 in shop and office throughout the world. 
 
 The inefficient attitude of mind always shows 
 
 itself by the tendency to "run around in circles" 
 
 without getting anywhere. It doesn't start out 
 
 right in making a judgment, because it doesn't 
 
 deliberately put the problem before the various 
 
 viewpoints of mind which ought to pass on it. 
 
 It flies like a shuttlecock from one consideration 
 
 [ 186 1 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 to another, never arriving at a conclusion which 
 it itself can trust. We must come to conclusions 
 and definite plans of action on a "problem before we 
 really can say we have done good, efficient thinking. 
 The mind must be taken in hand, managed 
 and organized, in order to be efficient. It is a 
 whole world in itself. We, the master of it, 
 whose will it ought to obey, may be (and in 
 thousands and thousands of cases are) as help- 
 less and ineffective as a school teacher unable to 
 manage a roomful of boys. One dare not let the 
 mind doze and dream too much without coming 
 to conclusions; the mind must be commanded 
 and manipulated. It must be stimulated and 
 encouraged and studied. It does not produce 
 fine results by chance or accident or inherited 
 genius. Left alone, the brain tends to idle and 
 to make all our actions and thoughts automatic, 
 dull, and habitlike. Our minds do not ordinarily 
 prefer to think efficiently; they love to see 
 things as they prefer to see them, rather than as 
 they are. They love to dwell in impossible air- 
 castles and imagine themselves in ideal sur- 
 roundings. Therefore, any one wishing an alert 
 
 r 1S7 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 mind must systematically coax, lure, or interest 
 it to concentrate efficiently on problems of life 
 as they are. So many thousands of women let 
 their minds "play hookey," so to speak, and 
 become unable to think through to the end of a 
 problem and arrive at efficient conclusions in 
 which they have faith. 
 
 By far the best and most permanent way to 
 teach the mind to think efficiently is to really 
 interest it. People who are not intensely inter- 
 ested in a subject actually do not see the situation 
 as it really is. They miss many wonderfully 
 interesting elements and details in what they 
 consider the common, uninteresting things of 
 life. That dishwashing involves half a dozen 
 sciences, and that logic, philosophy, and sociology 
 have relation to it, seems silly to many women. 
 Yet that's what the bricklayers said about 
 bricklaying when Gilbreth revolutionized it with 
 motion study science; and it took Maeterlinck 
 to see the bookfuls of marvellous things in the 
 simple beehive. 
 
 A fireman arriving at a fire sees many more 
 things than the ordinary spectator, who usually 
 
 [ 188 1 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 sees nothing but smoke and flames, and feels 
 excited. The fireman is cool and his mind 
 calmly takes up point after point about the 
 direction of the wind, the draughts, etc.; and 
 while others run around helplessly he is intel- 
 ligently and often successfully mastering the 
 fire. 
 
 The woman who interests herself deeply in 
 the smallest detail and new angle or idea about 
 her work is preparing, like the fireman, to act 
 intelligently and successfully under trial and 
 difficulty. Just as the efficient fireman loves 
 to use his mind against any and all kinds of bad 
 situations, so the efficient housewife loves fo 
 tackle anything that confronts her with her 
 trained, efficient attitude of mind, taking hope, 
 zest, and cheer in her job, and using all the 
 knowledge, help, and suggestion from anywhere 
 that promise to prove useful. 
 
 Notice that, as in the case of the fireman, it is 
 mind far more than muscle that wins. The only 
 reason that man is not still a savage is his capac- 
 ity to analyze, study, and plan. Women have, 
 however, relied far too much on custom and their 
 
 [189 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 emotions, with the result that they have not 
 Hfted their sphere of labour out of the hard 
 physical drudgery era, as man has lifted his 
 office and shop, by scientific management and 
 invention. 
 
 We have had plenty of invention for the 
 household, but the great need is now for more 
 science of management, and, above all, for more 
 efficient thinking and analyzing. For in the 
 home, as everywhere else, efficiency must start 
 in the mind of the directing spirit of the establish- 
 ment. Thousands of men are inefficient, but are 
 made efficient by submitting to the direction of 
 efficient men who stand over them. It is the 
 great misfortune of women as homemakers that 
 each one of them must stand alone as the 
 directing head of a separate establishment, with- 
 out any trained, efficient mind to guide and 
 direct them. They must apply what efficiency 
 they have or can learn, alone ; while men in office 
 and shop can not only be under the guidance of 
 efficient foremen and overseers, but they have 
 in addition the social stimulus of working among 
 other men in competition. 
 
 [ 190 ] 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 It is therefore immensely, terribly important 
 that women get themselves in connection with 
 modern efl&ciency science, and, most important 
 of all, bring themselves up to a really efficient 
 attitude of mind. 
 
 What are the practical steps which must be 
 taken to get this efficient attitude of mind, and 
 what does the efiicient attitude of mind do when 
 it tackles a problem? The methods of efficient 
 thinking about a problem are the same in the 
 home as anywhere else, and may be listed as 
 follows: 
 
 (1) To separate a problem carefully into its 
 
 various parts. 
 
 (2) To look all the parts of the problem 
 
 courageously, fully, and sincerely in 
 the face, missing nothing. 
 
 (3) To arrive at definite, positive, practical 
 
 conclusions about each part of the 
 problem, and then about the whole 
 problem, after looking at it from many 
 angles. 
 
 (4) To "check back," or prove, each judg- 
 
 [ 191 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 ment or conclusion by going over it 
 again before accepting it as final. 
 
 (5) To take definite steps to put the conclu- 
 
 sions into a plan of action, and stay by 
 it until it is carried through success- 
 fully, or else replaced by another plan 
 of action to fit new conditions. 
 
 (6) To refuse to let the mind wallow and 
 
 dawdle around a problem without ar- 
 riving at definite, actionable conclu- 
 sions ; or to arrive at conclusions with- 
 out putting them into practice and 
 testing them out; or to find a plan 
 unsatisfactory without at once re- 
 analyzing the whole matter and 
 getting to work upon another plan of 
 action. 
 
 It is deadly indecisiveness which has held back 
 so many women, and given another arrow to the 
 jokesmith to aim at our sex. Efficient thinking 
 routs out indecision like fog driven before the 
 rising sun. Women are also accused of deliber- 
 ately cheating themselves by ignoring unpleas- 
 
 F192 1 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 ant facts and conditions. This has cost home- 
 makers more than they reaHze. 
 
 Woman's vanity has often kept her from 
 admitting that many of her problems are so 
 distressing simply because of her own lack of 
 personal efficiency, not because of circumstances, 
 fate, or other people. In most cases, however, 
 she never even suspects that she is not as 
 efficient as she might be, and points to the hard 
 manual labour she does as proof of her efficiency 
 — as if that didn't prove just the opposite! 
 
 Many women have hard, even terrible, bur- 
 dens to bear for which they are in no way 
 responsible; but even if these burdens cannot be 
 lightened, after sincere, efficient thinking and act- 
 ing, there still remains one solution — to carry 
 these burdens with an efficient attitude of mind. 
 Such an attitude may be the entire difference 
 between happiness and unhappiness. 
 
 The efficient attitude of mind is really the 
 balance-wheel to the homemakers' entire life and 
 work. I am more interested in making such an 
 attitude universal among women than I am in 
 urging upon them motion study, dispatching 
 
 r 193 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 and scheduling, and other methods, for I know 
 well that these will come if the attitude of mind 
 is efficient; while I also know that they cannot 
 come without it. 
 
 You see, I am so deeply convinced that the 
 nutshell of the whole matter is that women 
 master their work, instead of letting their work 
 master them, that I am ready to recommend that 
 all methods and schedules be occasionally thrown 
 overboard in order to attain mastery and inde- 
 pendence if necessary or advisable. 
 
 The end and aim of home efficiency is not a 
 perfect system of work, or scientific scheduling, 
 or ideal cleanliness and order; it is the personal 
 happiness, health, and progress of the family in 
 the home. The work, the science, the system, 
 the schedule are but some of the means to that 
 end, not the end itself. We must use them, or 
 sidetrack them, just as needs be, to attain the 
 real ends of homemaking. The point I want to 
 make clear is that in trying to master our work we 
 do not want to be mastered by method and system, 
 thus jumping from the frying pan into the fire ! 
 
 The 100 per cent, efficient person is not the 
 [ 194 ] 
 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 one who ties himself up in a wonderful snarl of 
 method and system — but who makes his mind 
 so clear and efficient that both the work and the 
 system are his slaves, when he gets into action. 
 Therefore I would feel very badly about it if my 
 earnest plea for a more efficient attitude of mind 
 should result in nothing else but increased slav- 
 ish devotion to work. I do not call that woman 
 efficient who thinks it a sacrilege to change her 
 schedule of w^ork, leave dishes unwashed and 
 house upset to take advantage of a pleasant 
 afternoon for a jaunt in the woods with the 
 children. Neither do I call that woman efficient 
 who complains that her schedule of work leaves 
 her no time to read a good book or attend an 
 afternoon musical or club meeting. Efficiency 
 would be a sorry thing if it simply meant a 
 prisonlike, compulsory routine of duties. But 
 it doesn't, please believe me. Its very purpose is 
 more liberty, more leisure, a shrewder sense of 
 values, and the elimination of wasted energy. 
 
 I once knew a woman who dusted the back of 
 every picture in her home every day. She 
 believed this was real efficiency. I also know a 
 
 [ 195 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 woman who spoiled a delightful camping ex- 
 perience by so elaborating the simple work of 
 camp-caretaking that she rarely had time to 
 enjoy the woods and fields so plentiful about 
 her, and complained after some months of 
 camping that she had never had a single day of 
 rest! This is typical of a large class of women 
 whose sense of values are garbled by inefiicient 
 thinking. 
 
 Women have need for the very best of logic, 
 culture, and mental training in order that they 
 may judge homemaking values truly. 
 
 [196] 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
 
 MEN AND THE HOUSEHOLD EFFI- 
 CIENCY MOVEMENT 
 
 IJECAUSE the science of efficiency originated 
 in man's world of the office, shop, and factory, a 
 large responsibility rests on men to assist women 
 in its application in the home. For centuries 
 women's work has been carried on in the isola- 
 tion of the home. Man's work during the same 
 centuries has been carried on in the outside 
 world of business, which gave him stimulation 
 and encouragement. His world of business in- 
 terests provided him with business associates 
 with whom he was able to confer, and he was 
 forced by economic pressure and competitive 
 necessity to improve his work or fail. 
 
 Until very recently woman has not had the 
 stimulation of other women interested in her 
 work of homemaking, and particularly she has 
 had no competitive spur to urge her to improve 
 
 [ 197 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 her methods or raise her particular work of 
 homemaking to a higher development. If a 
 man ran his business inefficiently he failed; but 
 if a woman ran her home inefficiently the only 
 result was a poorly fed and clothed family, which 
 threw still greater burdens on society. 
 
 Because of this seclusion and lack of stimula- 
 tion, women have come to regard their work 
 more from the emotional standpoint than from 
 the scientific. It is not easy for them to reason, 
 analyze, and minutely study home problems. 
 As even an intelligent friend of mine said to me 
 when I was explaining how I standardized a 
 certain task : ' ' You don't mean to think I would 
 be so silly as to bother which hand it was I 
 raised first." 
 
 For ages men have been our scientists and 
 discoverers, the originators and developers of 
 industrial systems and methods. Because of his 
 long experience in the industrial world and his 
 keener scientific aptitude and his knowledge of 
 the efficiency doctrine in the shop, the factory, 
 and the office, man most properly must come to 
 assist woman in establishing her home on bases 
 
 [198 1 
 
HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 
 
 on which he has for so long maintained his own 
 businesses, and which he created in the first 
 place. 
 
 Viewed broadly, is it not a paradox for man 
 to systematize office after office, factory after 
 factory, and never give a thought to the running 
 of his home, which is the object for which all 
 factories and offices exist? 
 
 There are exceptions who happily prove the 
 rule, but it is, I think, true that the majority of 
 men are indifferent to the way that a house is 
 run (except from a financial standpoint) and 
 indifferent as to whether their wives drudge or 
 not. I know many cases of wealthy men who 
 indulge themselves in every office convenience, 
 but who refuse their wives permission to pur- 
 chase kitchen equipment of the better kind; 
 and rarely is it that men who have excellent 
 systems and methods in their business think of 
 discussing them with their wives, or adapting 
 them in their homes. 
 
 If for no other reason than selfish interest 
 alone, man should be concerned that his wife or 
 mother manage her household after efficiency 
 
 [ 199 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 principles. One of the frequent complaints of 
 both men and women is that the over-amount of 
 housework forces a woman to forego much of the 
 pleasure and companionship of her husband's 
 company. Pressure of housework often pre- 
 vents her, after marriage, from being the "good 
 fellow" that she was as a sweetheart. Perhaps 
 if man would step in and show a sympathetic 
 understanding of woman's work in the home, 
 assisting her to apply in it the efficient methods 
 he applies in his own office, he would profit by 
 more of her companionship. 
 
 In certain homes I know of, both man and 
 woman are mutually interested in the other's 
 business. The woman may have worked out a 
 system of home accounts, or her husband has 
 brought from his office various devices like the 
 "tickler," which she can use in the home. In 
 my own case my husband's sympathetic coop- 
 eration and assistance have put me in touch with 
 the most advanced office systems, have encour- 
 aged me to a more businesslike handling of my 
 finances, and stimulated me in every point to 
 regard homemaking as a profession as equally 
 
 [200] 
 
HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 
 
 worthy as his own. Other husbands I know 
 have cooperated with their wives in improving 
 the kitchen arrangement, or in effecting clever 
 contrivances and helps for their convenience. 
 
 Too often the woman is drudgif ying — for 
 what? A man who slavishly accepts her work 
 and sacrifice, or for children who do not under- 
 stand the effort and work she puts forth. He 
 receives praise for his work from his business 
 associates, but never thinks of bestowing praise 
 upon his junior partner for her equally im- 
 portant share in the business of life which they 
 both manage together. 
 
 If man will cooperate and assist woman in 
 bringing about this "new housekeeping," cer- 
 tainly a greater companionship between them 
 will be created. It is sometimes complained 
 that women are not interested in business. Is 
 it not equally true that man is not interested in 
 the home.f^ If both will become interested in the 
 business of the other it will bring man's world 
 and woman's world closer together, and create 
 a stronger tie between the man and the woman. 
 
 Some definite things can be done by men who 
 [201 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 desire to interest their wives in greater efficiency 
 in the home. A visit to a well-managed office 
 or shop, with a homely demonstration of the 
 plans in operation, is very good. Going to hear 
 a lecture on scientific management is apt to 
 start enthusiasm for the movement. 
 
 Perhaps most effective of all is to interest 
 other men whose wives are friends. When men 
 succeed in arousing some interest in their wives, 
 such a little social group of women will work out 
 the new idea much more quickly and spiritedly 
 than any woman singly. The purchase of good 
 books is another necessary step. 
 
 In all efforts of a "mere man" to lead women 
 toward a new conception of housework and 
 method, much tact and patience are necessary. 
 In some cases women resent male interference or 
 suggestion in house matters, while in many more 
 cases women bear their heavy and troublesome 
 problems alone without sympathy, and quickly 
 respond to a man's kindly and intelligent inter- 
 est in them. The most formidable obstacle is 
 the idea of many women that a man '* never does, 
 nor can, understand what she is up against," and 
 
 [ 202 1 
 
HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 
 
 that in the business office or factory things can 
 be done that cannot possibly be appHcable in 
 the home. 
 
 A great deal of responsibility therefore rests 
 on men to help lift women out of this fallacy, 
 and move the world forward. Man's pay for 
 this will be increased business, for the inefficient 
 woman holds back business development. 
 
 [203] 
 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
 
 THE HOMEMAKER'S RELATION TO 
 BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 1 o-DAY, in Podunk, Mich., or Flagstaff, Ariz., 
 the young men are wearing the same styles of 
 collar and tie that are seen on Fifth Avenue, 
 New York City. As some one has put it, "the 
 country is now metropolitan from edge to edge." 
 Due to this great fact (made possible largely by 
 national periodicals serving as advertising medi- 
 ums) we find the same kinds of goods being sold 
 all over the country at the same time. 
 
 Woman, as the "new homemaker," needs to 
 understand this highly complex machinery of 
 distribution which makes it possible for the 
 Podunk youth and the New York youth to be 
 wearing the same style collar on the same day; 
 or for the woman in Tallahassee to be using the 
 same peanut-butter, neckwear, and flatirons that 
 are the last word in the metropolis. In order to 
 
 [204] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 maintain this distribution in every point of this 
 immense country, great sales-forces and organi- 
 zations and well-laid out policies exist. These 
 sales-forces for different articles are often so 
 large that they have their own conventions, 
 schools, lectures, and "'house organs" devoted 
 to their peculiar fields, and are little worlds in 
 themselves. 
 
 What these organizations do, and the way in 
 which the housewife reacts or responds to them, 
 has very direct relation to the cost of living and 
 satisfactory buying. As the housewife is the 
 deciding factor always, the great mass of house- 
 wives could do nothing more efficient and help- 
 ful than to try to make its response to sales- 
 effort intelligent, and to make itself felt as a 
 body in weeding out cumbersome and costly 
 methods of selling and distribution. 
 
 On a general average, it costs twice as much 
 nowadays to get merchandise from the factory 
 to the person who wants it as it does to make 
 such merchandise. In some cases it is very 
 much more. It is often not at all the desire of 
 the manufacturer that the cost of selling should 
 
 [205 1 
 
TJIE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 be SO high; in fact, of late years many manu- 
 facturers have started, wherever practical, to 
 sell direct to consumers in various ways. We 
 would not have one of the most famous shoes on 
 the market to-day, for instance, if a bright man 
 hadn't decided to kick aside the long-established 
 methods of reaching you, the buyer. He sold 
 shoes by mail until their worth was recognized, 
 and he could open stores of his own, and sell 
 shoes with the trademark name on them. Other 
 shoe dealers had always refused to sell shoes 
 with the manufacturer's name or trademark on 
 them. There are still a great many such dealers, 
 not only in shoes, but in all lines of goods. 
 
 If you as a buyer never asked for anything 
 simply by its common name (like "shoes" or 
 "flour," etc.), but made it your serious business 
 to try to find the best for your purpose and at 
 your price, and then always ordered it by its 
 manufacturer's name or trademark, selling costs 
 would come down. The maker of a good article 
 could then get dealers everywhere to handle it, 
 so you could buy it everywhere, and the dealers 
 wouldn't want so much profit, because it would 
 
 [ 206 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 move faster, and they wouldn't have to persuade 
 buyers that it was good. The dealers now want 
 from 33J per cent, up to 50 per cent, profit on 
 articles which are not "known." You must pay 
 this, but if you are a good judge of values, and 
 if you stick by something good once you find it, 
 the manufacturer can compel dealers to accept 
 less profit, and give you the benefit. 
 
 The manufacturers of these thousands of 
 articles, from soap to pianos, must protect their 
 good- will with users, and their problems of dis- 
 tribution are as perplexing as the work of a 
 general handling an army of men. The woman, 
 the consumer, must be protected, must be inter- 
 ested, must be held; and every woman will 
 benefit by understanding the difiiculties every 
 manufacturer is up against, and particularly 
 the important and vital part that every woman 
 and homemaker plays in this drama of distribu- 
 tion — the getting of a good article from the, 
 factory to you in the most efficient manner. 
 
 Merchandising, the selling of goods, never 
 reached any development until it attained the 
 one-price idea. The old idea of selling, still 
 
 [ 207 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 extant in the East, and some places in Europe, 
 was to change the price of an article to every 
 purchaser, depending on what the dealer thought 
 the customer would stand. The one-price idea, 
 largely developed by John Wanamaker and 
 Marshall Field, means that the same article is 
 sold at one price everywhere throughout the 
 country, so that it is safe to send even a little 
 child to purchase. No standardized branded arti- 
 cles were ^possible without the one-price plan, I 
 emphasize this to show that standards of value 
 depend on the continuation of the one-price 
 plan, just as they were made possible only by 
 the one-price plan. It is important for a woman 
 to follow this, as it leads to the next point in 
 the distribution story, which is the "fixed-price" 
 and "cut-price" situation. When, in former 
 days, every customer was at the mercy of the 
 dealer, who might ask her 5 cents for soap, and 
 the next customer 6 cents, there were, as I said, 
 no standards of value possible. It means every- 
 thing, then, to the woman consumer to help 
 maintain this one-price idea, and support dis- 
 tribution policies which will continue the 
 
 [ 208 1 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 one-price policy in which hes her safety as a 
 shopper. 
 
 Let us follow the story of a well-known soap, 
 for example, which sells at 8 cents for a large cake. 
 Now, in order to make soap of this excellent 
 standard, the manufacturers have laboured for 
 years, and have established a large chain of 
 factories. By effecting economies in manu- 
 facture, and because of the immense number of 
 cakes sold, the manufacturers are able to give 
 this excellent quality at this low price of 8 cents. 
 They have found that 8 cents is the lowest price 
 at which they can sell so good a quality and 
 weight, and still make a profit. In order that 
 you woman in Florida, or you woman in Cali- 
 fornia, may buy this soap at 8 cents, they have 
 a gigantic system of distribution with thousands 
 of salesmen and jobbers who bring the soap to 
 your door. They are backing this product with 
 all their reputation. 
 
 Now let us suppose that you^ — our woman 
 consumer — one day see in a drug store the 
 notice that for two days this brand of soap will 
 be sold at 6 cents. This looks like a great 
 
 [209 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 chance to save pennies, and you immediately 
 purchase several bars, and think you are an 
 economical housewife. But let us see the inside 
 result: This drug dealer, Jones, sold at this cut 
 price for two days, not to give you the benefit 
 of a penny saving; he used this cut price on a 
 standard article, of known value and reputation, 
 merely as a bait to lure you into his store, where 
 he hoped you would buy other articles, like his 
 own "private" brands, on which he knew he 
 would make 40 or 50 per cent, profit. 
 
 In every case of price cutting on a standard 
 article the dealer steals your regard and knowl- 
 edge of these standard goods, and uses the cut 
 price as bait to entice you to come to his store 
 and buy other articles on which he will make a 
 very high rate of profit. The well-known cutting 
 of three cans of soup for a quarter, etc., made 
 by grocery stores, is always a bait to have you 
 enter, and later purchase tea and coffee, and 
 their own brands of spices and extracts, on 
 which they make an immense profit. 
 
 Let us follow our soap story farther. You 
 bought several cakes at Jones's drug store, and 
 
 [ 210 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 saved almost 10 cents. But there is another 
 store kept by Brown down the street, and he 
 sees that Jones has cut the price on the soap, 
 and that Jones is thus attracting many custom- 
 ers into his store. What can Brown do.^ He 
 must get up some bait to attract customers 
 back, if he can. He sells this same soap for 
 five cents, which may be below cost to him, 
 merely to get you to enter his store. You see 
 that Brown sells this soap for two days at 5 
 cents, and so you run back to trade at Brown's, 
 etc., like a shuttlecock, and never consider the 
 part you are playing in the whole matter. Now 
 Brown may be able to cut the price to 5 cents; 
 but the chances are he would lose too much 
 money by so doing; so, instead, he says to the 
 manufacturer, "I can't make enough money on 
 this soap, because I can't afford to cut the price 
 on it all the time. I am not such a big dealer 
 as Jones." What is the result? Because he 
 cannot afford to cut the price, Brown refuses to 
 handle the soap entirely. Not only does Brown 
 refuse to handle the soap, but hundreds of 
 other Browns all over the country who cannot 
 
 [ 211 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 afford to cut the price refuse to handle the 
 goods. 
 
 What is the result? This manufacturer of 
 good soap, who has spent money to establish it, 
 and who gives you the best quality at the lowest 
 price consistent with fair profit, is forced into 
 one of two positions: either he must reduce the 
 quality, or he must go out of business altogether, 
 and in either case you are the loser. Instead of 
 saving 4 cents, you have thrown a boomerang 
 that, after a roundabout journey, comes back 
 and hits you, and deprives you of the ability to 
 buy standard products; and you, the woman 
 consumer, are so much worse oflF. Instead of 
 helping yourself to obtain standard articles, you 
 have, by a petty * 'saving," destroyed the possi- 
 bility of that manufacturer giving you a good 
 product. The result is that you wonder what- 
 ever became of that fine old soap you used to 
 use, and why there are so many brands that 
 come and go all the time. 
 
 Every time you buy an article at a cut price 
 you are registering yourself as an enemy, not a 
 friend, of that article, for your action is the first 
 
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 step toward driving it off the market. If you 
 don't like the article don't buy it at any price; 
 but if you like it, pay the price set on it, if you 
 believe it's worth it. If you don't think it's 
 worth the price, find another article which you 
 think is worth the price asked; but don't be 
 a party to "pirating" and "sandbagging" an 
 article. 
 
 There is a great deal that intelligent house- 
 wives can do in this matter, for there are many 
 hypocritical customs which ought to be wiped 
 out. There are some articles which are pur- 
 posely priced high, knowing the price will not 
 be asked by dealers or paid. This is especially 
 so in drug and toilet articles. One-dollar arti- 
 cles quite usually sell at 87 cents or somewhere 
 near it; even as low as 67 cents. As a result we 
 have three fourths of the drug stores calling 
 themselves "cut-rate" drug stores, as if it were 
 something to be proud of. All this is very 
 hypocritical; why should there not be one right 
 fair price to all, everywhere? 
 
 But this is not nearly so hypocritical or mis- 
 leading and even fraudulent as the thousands 
 
 [213] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 of retail stores which are continually advertising 
 and selling "$15 suits at $9.98," etc. In most 
 cases these suits are nothing more than ten- 
 dollar values. Many millions of dollars' worth 
 of goods are sold to consumers on misrepresenta- 
 tions like this. The only remedy, besides more 
 laws against misleading and fraudulent adver- 
 tising (such as New York and a few other states 
 have), is the education of women as purchasers. 
 They should study and be taught better how to 
 judge values, and how much greater economy 
 it is to pay a fair, regular price for only such 
 articles as are of sure worth, and only when they 
 are really needed. 
 
 There are some who would say that the shop 
 windows and the advertising make women ex- 
 travagant, but this is the wrong view. The 
 shop windows and the advertising simply prove 
 how tremendously efficient they are in their 
 duty of informing us; it is then up to the house- 
 wife to do her part as efficiently by weighing 
 values and considerations, and having the cour- 
 age to say "No." A woman who is not able to 
 do this is not nearly finished with her education 
 
 [ 214 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 — she is driving the family and the nation into 
 a wrong economic balance which makes panics, 
 unhappiness, and lack of character and worth. 
 To get this education about her proper relation, 
 as the great purchasing factor in modern 
 life, to the business world which makes and 
 sells, is her most important duty as a home- 
 maker. 
 
 Every now and then criticism is made of two 
 things which are given the blame for the "high 
 cost of living": the packaging of goods and 
 advertising. But any woman may still buy, if 
 she wishes, soda crackers, tea, or oatmeal in bulk. 
 She may still buy in bulk anything also pack- 
 aged, if she is ready to accept lack of freshness 
 or cleanliness. It is all a question of values in 
 her mind, and the cost of living need not be any 
 higher because of packages if she so decides. 
 If she decides for package goods, the reasons 
 ought to be clear in her mind what she is gain- 
 ing, and whether the higher quality of package 
 goods warrants the difference in price over the 
 bulk article. 
 
 The following are, in brief, the chief reasons 
 [ 215 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 why package goods have appealed so strongly 
 to the average woman as worth the extra cost: 
 
 (1) Greater sanitation in handling. 
 
 (2) Increased keeping qualities. 
 
 (3) More convenience in handling. 
 
 (4) Less loss in breakage. 
 
 (5) More accurate and responsible weighing. 
 
 (6) More definite standards of identity and 
 
 responsibility. 
 
 As to advertising, it is simply a form of selling 
 cost that is taking the place of other forms of 
 selling cost now outgrown. A salesman who 
 sells an advertised article doesn't have to call as 
 often or as long on dealers to get orders; and 
 the dealer, in turn, doesn't have to argue and 
 explain so long to women, and thus is satisfied 
 with less profit. Consequently, where it prob- 
 ably would take 500 salesmen to sell a fac- 
 tory's output of goods if no advertising were 
 done, it takes only half or less that number 
 when advertising is used, nor does it take so 
 long. 
 
 Through advertising, you hear very quickly 
 now when something new and good appears; 
 
 [ 216 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 whereas without advertising you might never 
 hear of it, for dealers don't Hke to buy things 
 unless there is a '* demand." It actually nowa- 
 days costs less, per article, to sell goods, if 
 advertising is used to help, than if no advertis- 
 ing is used. The large quantity of advertising 
 we see everywhere is simply taking the place 
 of salesmen's bills for hotel and travelling ex- 
 pense, champagne for entertaining, and even 
 bribes. Advertising is the more modern, clean, 
 direct, and straightforward way of going right 
 to the "ultimate consumer" and telling about 
 the goods. There is still advertising waste and 
 exaggeration and fraud, but it is being gradually 
 but surely weeded out. 
 
 The great fact which both purchaser and seller 
 is finding out is that frankness and square deal- 
 ing pay in the long run, and that a fair price and 
 a fair profit, guaranteed satisfaction and full 
 confidence, benefit both parties to a transaction. 
 Also that sometimes immediate, temporary, or 
 personal profit should be sacrificed to the good 
 of all, and to our own future profit. This 
 brings us to the small versus the large dealer — 
 
 [ 217 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 the big downtown store versus the small neigh- 
 bourhood dealer. 
 
 Shall a woman go downtown to large depart- 
 ment stores for articles which are cut in price, 
 and give her small local dealer only such orders 
 on which he can make little or no profit? The 
 large department store must not be decried — 
 it has a fine place in the community, if wisely 
 used; but too often the woman consumer runs 
 downtown for every so-called cut-price adver- 
 tised by the ''big stores," and yet expects her 
 local dealer to drive over with a loaf of bread 
 any time she wishes. 
 
 Is this fair, and how does it affect distribu- 
 tion? In the first place, the small local dealers 
 everywhere, because of their greater number, 
 are the ones on whom satisfactory distribution 
 depends. You would be greatly inconvenienced, 
 without him. It is also the small local dealer 
 who generally gives personal attention, which 
 is lacking in big stores, and whose service is 
 usually better than that of the large stores which 
 are so large that they have imperfect mail and 
 shipping service. It is not fair to buy locally 
 
 [218 1 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 sugar and other articles on which there is httle 
 or no profit and then go downtown for other 
 articles. It is this which is causing so many 
 small retailers to fail every year, and which 
 makes poor and inefficient retailers. It is act- 
 ually more profitable in the long run, counting 
 carfares, time, etc., to divide your trade gener- 
 ously with local retailers who can and will give 
 you the personal consideration and quick service 
 which more than outweigh a little difference in 
 price. 
 
 One of the business things now discussed is 
 whether or not small retailers should be able to 
 buy at the same price as large stores, no matter 
 how much the large store buys. The finest 
 and most advanced manufacturers say. Yes. 
 They say the " quantity price " to large buyers 
 is unfair to the small man, and tends to drive 
 all small dealers out of business, and they are 
 refusing to give any quantity discounts. This 
 is a problem in which the intelligent housewife 
 should interest herself. It is my opinion, too, 
 that quantity prices should be abolished. It 
 will take away the temptation to run down- 
 
 [219] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 town to buy an article a few cents cheaper, and 
 will give the shopper as good buying advantages 
 near home as downtown. 
 
 The whole aim of the woman consumer, as 
 was pointed out before, is to insist and maintain 
 standards in her purchasing. She can do this 
 by insisting on one price; by understanding her 
 position in the price maintenance situation, by 
 patronizing the local dealer, and by thoroughly 
 understanding the point of trademarks and 
 brands and the evil of substitution. Right out 
 of this matter of the small versus large dealer 
 arises the difficult situation of the "private 
 brand" of goods, which the woman must also 
 understand to be an intelligent consumer. 
 
 No woman now can imagine the chaos exist- 
 ing a century ago when no trademark guarantee 
 was placed on goods. The trademark is the 
 identification, the guarantee of standards. The 
 trademark represents that pride of quality be- 
 hind the goods for which the manufacturer 
 stands, and which he is willing to back with 
 his reputation. The trademark is the guaran- 
 tee to the consumer. The same motive that 
 
 [ 220 1 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 prompted Cremona or Stradivarius as a name 
 on a violin of quality prompts the responsible 
 manufacturer to brand his goods. He wants to 
 lift his goods above the low level of other 
 merchandise of the same class. 
 
 A certain manufacturer makes baked beans; 
 he spends years developing his process and 
 manufacture to a high point; he spends money 
 to advertise and interest you in his product; he 
 gives it to you at the lowest price consistent with 
 fair profit, and he adopts a design, name, or 
 mark so that you can identify him as the manu- 
 facturer of this article upon which his whole repu- 
 tation is at stake. If dissatisfied, and you fail 
 to continue to buy and recommend his beans, he 
 is lost — all his business is wiped out. Therefore 
 you have a hold on him — you can strike back 
 at him if he does not uphold a good standard. 
 
 But you have no hold on the manufacturer 
 who won't put his name or trademark on his 
 goods. You can't find him — there's no way 
 of proving he made them, and he can therefore 
 make goods as poorly as he pleases, as long as 
 somebody will buy them from him. 
 
 [221] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Here comes in a distribution secret: the fact 
 that there are numbers of big department stores 
 and other dealers and wholesalers who are very 
 fond of buying this anonymous kind of goods 
 from manufacturers and putting their own names 
 on it, to lead people to believe they make it. 
 One manufacturer may make goods for six or a 
 hundred such firms, and put six or a hundred 
 different ''private brands," names, and labels on 
 the same kind of goods! These goods may sell 
 at all kinds of prices — usually many times more 
 than they're worth. These big stores and whole- 
 salers prefer to sell "private brand" goods 
 rather than goods bearing the manufacturer's 
 trademark, simply because they make more 
 profit on the private brand. You've got to 
 trust the store instead of the manufacturer, and 
 as the store has many other things to sell if you 
 don't like this one article, it hasn't so much to 
 lose, and isn't so particular about the quality of 
 the article. The real manufacturer is anxious 
 about quality, but the stores that distribute 
 private brands care most about price. 
 
 It is another reason for encouraging the small 
 [ 222 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 dealer, that he usually keeps many more goods 
 which carry manufacturer's trademarks than 
 the big stores downtown. He isn't so strong 
 as the big store, therefore he knows he can't 
 attempt to sell you so many "private brand," 
 irresponsible goods, with only his own label on 
 them. 
 
 The matter of standards again enters our next 
 point of substitution. The woman pledged to 
 accept and encourage standards of production 
 will refuse to encourage substitution, because of 
 which millions of dollars is lost annually for 
 both the housewife and the manufacturer. Sub- 
 stitution is the effort of the retailer to offer 
 some other standard article than that for which 
 you asked. Every good article is followed by a 
 crowd of imitators who camp on its trail, and who 
 follow its trademark, imitating the name, the 
 size, shape, colour and label as closely as possible. 
 Every time a woman accepts an imitation she 
 is harming the distribution of the good article, 
 and lessening its sales, thereby decreasing the 
 possibility of the continuance of the good article 
 in the market. 
 
 [223 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Practically every time a woman accepts a 
 substitute she gets less than what she asks for. 
 She should never, on principle, accept a sub- 
 stitute, unless she is actually compelled to by 
 circumstances. It is like throwing a train off 
 its track. It interrupts and destroys the judg- 
 ment of the purchaser, and cripples the whole 
 distribution system, to say nothing of adding to 
 the cost of living. It is a confession that your 
 judgment is defective. It is possible that ad- 
 vertising has fooled you into believing an article 
 good, but it is much more possible and probable 
 that your dealer is trying hard to make 60 per 
 cent, profit off of you, when the article you ask 
 for offers him only 30 per cent. Advertisers 
 who fool you can't stay in business very long — 
 because you don't buy again when you find an 
 article isn't good. An article advertised for a 
 number of years is almost proof in itself that it 
 is honest and good, because merit only, as a rule, 
 can stand the test of time. 
 
 Women are still too fickle in their buying; too 
 many are attracted by every new or different 
 brand, and do not realize that because they do 
 
 [ 224 ] 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 not stick to articles of real merit, they seriously 
 harm the distribution of good articles, and lessen 
 the chance that good articles will be continuously 
 manufactured for them. It is perfectly clear 
 that good articles cannot be made as cheaply or 
 efficiently unless there is a fairly guaranteed 
 market for them. Big factories must be built, 
 and cannot be abandoned without loss when 
 women lose interest. 
 
 A whole chapter and a whole book could be 
 written on the distribution of dress materials 
 and clothes alone. The reason why clothing 
 materials are so high is not because of tariff or 
 high cost of manufacture — but because women 
 are capricious and do not buy uniformly, and 
 are swayed by hectic appeals or whims. If 
 every manufacturer this moment knew within 
 15 per cent, just what, and how much, every 
 woman would buy of the main supplies each 
 year for three years, prices would come down 
 with a thud, as much as 40 per cent. 
 
 Weavers of cloths have a terribly wasteful 
 time every year trying to find out what women 
 "are going to wear." Many make up 400 or 
 
 [225] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 more kinds of weaves, knowing they will only 
 sell in quantities about sixteen of them. Which 
 sixteen — that's the rub ! If women refused to 
 follow radical styles, and did not waver toward 
 extremes so often and suddenly, prices would be 
 lower. It is not true that manufacturers ma- 
 nipulate styles — they'd be as rich as Croesus 
 if they could. Instead, most of them have a 
 hard time making money. It's what you as a 
 woman will do when various styles are put before 
 you that counts. If we as women acted more 
 firmly and unitedly in turning down most of the 
 fashions, and were more willing, like men, to 
 have our clothes look a little more alike, and to 
 keep a good style longer, we could save a lot 
 of money for other things, to say nothing of 
 nerves and time and heartaches. 
 
 One other point remains: the relation of the 
 woman as a householder to social justice. The 
 most progressive manufacturers now realize that 
 it is the best general business policy that the 
 purchaser pay as small a price as is consistent 
 with a fair return to capital invested and the 
 cost of eflScient distribution; and that a living 
 
 [226 1 
 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 
 
 wage must be paid the worker in order to make a 
 high grade standard article of best value to the 
 consumer. No consumer can in the long run 
 afford to buy cheap articles which are cheap 
 because they were made in unsanitary condi- 
 tions, or because the worker worked, under any 
 conditions that degraded, overworked or stulti- 
 fied him mentally, morally, or socially. The 
 largest manufacturers of the standard articles 
 are the very ones who have done the most for 
 the conditions of their workers. It is not 
 enough that "welfare" work be done and "rest 
 rooms," etc., be provided; it is much more im- 
 portant that wages be right, that intelligence 
 and efiiciency are properly rewarded, and that 
 society is the gainer on a broad basis because 
 of that industry's existence. 
 
 It is woman's privilege and duty as the 
 possessor of the powerful weapon of purchaser 
 that it be used to prevent social injustice. It is 
 a very great and important step toward social 
 justice when we insist that the goods we buy 
 are made or manufactured under proper condi- 
 tions. All of us in the long run can afford to 
 
 [227 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 pay the needed price. To buy a bit of goods 
 at a ridiculously low price, because some mother 
 and father and some employer were willing to 
 drain the youth and bloom of a little child, is 
 social immorality and crime — when it isn't 
 ignorance. The economic relation of woman to 
 the rest of the world is a terribly real thing and 
 a live responsibility. 
 
 [ £28 ] 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
 
 EDUCATION AND THE HOME 
 ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 Uo YOU wish your daughter trained in woman's 
 great work of homemaking, or will you be satis- 
 fied if she merely receives "culture," and studies 
 only such subjects as latin, mathematics, lan- 
 guages, and music? 
 
 This is the big vital question which you as the 
 average American mother are settling one way 
 or the other, thereby determining how the edu- 
 cation of the future woman will be planned. As 
 intelligent mothers interested in the greatest 
 happiness and success of your daughters, you 
 ought to know what the present day educational 
 situation is, so that you can help in bringing 
 about the wisest course. 
 
 There are two kinds of opinions swaying the 
 schools and colleges of the country to-day. One 
 opinion says that your daughter should not 
 
 [ 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 waste the precious limited amount of time she 
 can spend in high school or college studying cook- 
 ing, cleaning, and homemaking, which it says 
 you can teach her, or leave safely to her "in- 
 stinct" and general intelligence; such opinion 
 believes that in this precious time in school she 
 should get closer to the great minds of the ages, 
 to the thinkers, poets, writers, and the history, 
 art, and music of all time. 
 
 The other kind of educational opinion says 
 that your daughter is a human being with a 
 definite line of work in life, and that you owe it 
 to her first of all to give her the best practical 
 and theoretical training for her future life work. 
 It holds that every woman is inherently a home- 
 maker, and that the best thing you can do for 
 her happiness or the welfare of society is to 
 train her in this work of homemaking. This 
 opinion holds that homemaking is not a simple 
 kind of knowledge which can be left to chance, 
 but that it is a serious, many-sided study, brim- 
 ful of opportunity to apply the highest kind of 
 knowledge, science, art, and all the ideals of 
 culture and education. 
 
 [ 230 1 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 These educators insist that your daughter 
 will be a better wife and mother, a happier 
 homemaker, if she is taught definitely how to 
 apply her art, her literature, her biology, her 
 chemistry, to the real problems she will have to 
 face later as a homemaker. They ask, why 
 teach art without showing her practically how 
 to bring art into the decoration and furnishing 
 of her home? They ask, why teach chemistry 
 without teaching the chemical changes caused 
 in cooking, and right and wrong combinations 
 of foods? They ask, why teach psychology 
 without teaching her how to train her children's 
 minds? They ask, why teach botany without 
 showing her how a knowledge of the develop- 
 ment of the yeast plant will teach her to make 
 good bread? They ask, why teach her sociology 
 and economics without showing her how to 
 manage her home finances, and her relation as a 
 purchasing agent to the great world of business? 
 
 So we have a divided field of education to-day. 
 Only 700 high schools, 100 normal schools, and 
 130 other educational institutions (out of a 
 total of several thousand) teach home economics 
 
 [231 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 to any degree. The rest still refuse to believe 
 that any but purely cultural studies can mean 
 real education, and think that our daughters 
 can learn in their own homes all that is necessary 
 about "mere housekeeping." 
 
 Now, in my opinion, the best course is, as it 
 nearly always is, a middle course, or a combina- 
 tion of both opinions. We can teach cultural 
 studies and the ^practical work of home economics 
 without sacrificing the good value of either. 
 Latin and a course in the chemistry of foods are 
 not incompatible, and a well-planned course of 
 four years should give ample time for the study 
 of both. I believe there are most strong reasons 
 for teaching home economics as a science either 
 in college or the elementary schools. 
 
 First, modern conditions have made your 
 home less and less a place where you can teach 
 the things every woman should know. Modern 
 manufacture has taken out of the home many 
 of our old-time processes of canning, sewing, and 
 cooking. It would not be possible for you, in 
 many cases, to practically show your daughter 
 how to do these things. Second, through eco- 
 
 [ 232 ] 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 nomic changes, young women often go out to 
 work immediately after, or before, the comple- 
 tion of their high-school work, and have no time 
 nor opportunity later to study these subjects in 
 the home and must study them in the school, 
 if they study them at all. Third, if you are wise, 
 you will wish your daughter to know more than 
 you know^ — old time methods and ideas are 
 changing, and the school will teach your daugh- 
 ter new methods, tell her of new equipment, and 
 inform her of the new housekeeping which 
 means less drudgery and effort than you have 
 put into your work all your life. 
 
 Last, by dignifying home economics as a 
 science, and placing it on a level with other 
 cultural studies, your daughter will learn to 
 recognize and accept the dignity of housework 
 and homemaking as she would never have 
 learned it or accepted it in your own home 
 kitchen. It is a fine antidote against the un- 
 natural craving for '* careers" and the reluctance 
 to give attention to and take pride in those things 
 which a woman's part in life makes it imperative 
 for her to know, sooner or later. 
 
 [233 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Just what is this study of home economics, 
 you may ask, about which we have been talking 
 so much, and what do I think of the courses as 
 they are taught at present? Let us study some 
 definitions of home economics — first, that well- 
 known one of Mrs. Richards, the "mother" of 
 the home economics movement: 
 
 Home Economics stands for: 
 
 1. The ideal home life of to-day unhampered 
 
 by the traditions of the past. 
 
 2. The utilization of the resources of modern 
 
 science to improve home life. 
 
 3. The freedom of the home from the domi- 
 
 nance of things, and their due sub- 
 ordination to ideals, 
 
 4. The simplicity in material surroundings 
 
 which will most free the spirit, for the 
 more important and permanent inter- 
 ests of the home and of society. 
 
 Home economics means, in general, the appli- 
 cation of the sciences, the arts, and economics 
 to the practical affairs of the family — to food, 
 clothing, shelter, children, and finances. 
 
 [ 234 ] 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 In our grade schools we have certain branches 
 of home economics in the household arts — 
 sewing, cooking, cleaning, weaving of textiles, 
 drawing, and manual training. 
 
 In our high schools we emphasize the reason 
 why, and apply science and the arts to health, 
 food, clothing, and shelter in a more advanced 
 manner. 
 
 In our higher institutions of learning home 
 economics teaches the economic side of the same 
 subjects, the true economy of money, how to 
 purchase, how to manage finances, the business 
 side of homemaking, sanitation, decoration, fur- 
 nishings and construction of the home. 
 
 Do not think that we have ideal education in 
 home economics even to-day. Every woman's 
 help is needed to make it still more practical 
 and directly related to the work in the actual 
 home. My most severe criticism of much of 
 the work as carried on in many institutions is 
 that the courses are often planned solely or 
 largely from the professional view of those who 
 are going to teach them. There is some basis for 
 the jokes about domestic science students who 
 
 [235 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 cannot run their homes efficiently after several 
 years' training. This is because the work has 
 been taken a little too far away from practical 
 life, in many cases, and made merely a "cult." 
 The work is not given by the teacher and 
 received by the pupils as something to apply in 
 their own homes — but merely as a course of 
 study for school, and in school only, which they 
 are following solely to qualify them for teaching 
 some one else, and out of which to make a 
 professional living. 
 
 Another criticism I have is that too often the 
 equipment of the school, the foods used, and the 
 ideas of service (especially in high schools) are 
 entirely out of keeping with the standards and 
 purse of the girl's family; and while she is 
 naturally interested, she does not apply in her 
 own home what she has learned in school, 
 because conditions are so different; often, too, 
 she thinks of cooking as something pleasant 
 and fancy to do in the clean classroom with 
 shining equipment; but she lays her knowledge 
 aside when she leaves the school building, and 
 does not take it home with her into a dingy and 
 
 [236] 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 inefficient kitchen, and try and change condi- 
 tions at home into something better. 
 
 There is certainly great need to give oppor- 
 tunity for training in home economics to young 
 women who wish to become teachers, as is done 
 so splendidly at Pratt, Teachers' College, Sim- 
 mons, and elsewhere; but my greatest ideal for 
 domestic science education is that it shall be a 
 part of every school curriculum from the grades 
 up; that step by step, in advancing courses, all 
 girls and young women shall study these branches 
 with the view of practically developing these 
 ideas in their present homes with their 
 mothers, or in future homes of their own. We 
 want not only trained teachers, but trained 
 mothers; we want older women, all women, to 
 be educated and to educate each other in these 
 studies which raise the management of the home 
 into woman's highest profession. 
 
 You will be interested as a woman in learning 
 what a long struggle it has been to get even 
 thus far in home economics education. It is 
 almost laughable nowadays to note old records 
 in which is registered the struggle for popular 
 
 [ 237 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 education, particularly by girls, who, in 1790, 
 were voted by the school board of Gloucester 
 Mass., "two hours of daily instruction inasmuch 
 as girls are a tender and interesting branch of 
 the community, but have been much neglected 
 in the public schools of the town"! Girls con- 
 tinued to be ''tender and interesting females" 
 for some time to come; and it was not until the 
 founding of Catherine Beecher's School for Girls 
 at Hartford (1821), and the establishment of 
 various seminaries and academies, that the 
 change from "females" to women was gradually 
 begun. 
 
 Great social and economic changes in the 
 home during the period of 1840 were brought 
 about by new scientific discoveries and inven- 
 tions, the building of railways, and the introduc- 
 tion of the telegraph and cable. This changed 
 industrial attitude swept over the country and 
 very considerably changed the ideas of prevail- 
 ing education, which up to this time had been 
 limited to a study of the classics for purely 
 cultural ends, but which now became enlarged 
 to include technical training for some career or 
 
 [238] 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 profession. The founding of Oberlin (1833) for 
 both sexes; the beginning of normal schools in 
 Lexington, Mass. (1839); the founding of the 
 New England Female College (1842), all pointed 
 toward this new idea of definite professional 
 training for the teacher and the nurse. 
 
 The School for Girls, mentioned previously, 
 founded by Catherine Beecher and her famous 
 sister Harriet, had a great effect on the educa- 
 tion of women; and in about 1840 Catherine 
 published our first real domestic science book, 
 "A Treatise on Domestic Economy," from whose 
 preface the following interesting quotations are 
 made, which show that Miss Beecher at even 
 that early date quite anticipated the science of 
 home economics of the present day: 
 
 "The author of this work was led to attempt 
 it by discovering in her extensive travels the 
 deplorable sufferings of multitudes of young 
 wives and mothers from the combined in- 
 fluences of foor healthy poor domestics, and a 
 defective domestic education. . . . 
 
 "The measure which more than any other 
 [ 239 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 would tend to remedy this evil is to place 
 domestic economy on an equality with the 
 other sciences in female schools. This should 
 be done because it can be properly and sys- 
 tematically taught (not practically, but as a 
 science), as much so as political economy or 
 moral science, or any other branch of study; 
 because it embraces knowledge which will be 
 needed by young women at all times and in all 
 places; because it is a branch of study, and 
 because this method will secure a dignity and 
 importance in the estimation of young girls 
 which can never be accorded while they per- 
 ceive their teachers and parents practically 
 attaching more value to every other depart- 
 ment of science than this. . . . 
 
 ''When young ladies are taught rightly to 
 appreciate and learn the most convenient 
 and economical modes of performing all 
 family duties, and of employing time 
 and money; when they perceive the true 
 estimate accorded these things by teachers 
 and friends, the grand cause of this evil will 
 be removed." 
 
 [240 1 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 This most interesting work was used as a 
 text-book for many years, and contains such 
 chapter headings as, "Pecuhar Responsibihties of 
 American Women, " '' Healthful Food, " " Cloth- 
 ing," "Cleanliness," ''Domestic Manners," 
 "Construction of Houses." It also contained 
 a "Domestic Receipt Book," one of the first on 
 the subject whose aim was to furnish an "orig- 
 inal collection of receipts which shall embrace a 
 great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, 
 designed for everyday comfort and enjoyment." 
 
 Owing to the Civil War, educational progress 
 was somewhat delayed; the close of the war 
 found many women without support who were 
 forced to turn to some educational means to 
 give them skill to become self-supporting; and 
 hence the decade following the war was very 
 productive in the establishment of various tech- 
 nical schools, the founding of Vassar (1865) 
 being a distinct step in advance for the education 
 of women. Education at this time became even 
 more practical — drawing was introduced in 
 the public schools and manual training created 
 a country-wide interest and enthusiasm, and 
 
 [ 241 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 was introduced in most large cities, first in St. 
 Louis (1879). By this time it was quite evident 
 that the industrial factor had stamped itself 
 on education, and that the why, the how, and the 
 doing of things were considered of equal im- 
 portance with merely knowing — the new edu- 
 cation depended not on the head alone, but on 
 the head and hands working in cooperation. 
 
 In the West at this time (1870) a new kind of 
 educational institution was established — the 
 agricultural college — which was to give the 
 greatest possible stimulus to the teaching of 
 home economics, and to which it owes its real 
 beginning and development. Most of these new 
 Western institutions were coeducational, and 
 this fact brought up the discussion as to whether 
 woman was to follow the same identical lines of 
 work as her brother student. Educators were 
 divided in their opinions, but most of them 
 inclined to some form of separate education. 
 The agricultural college combined a training of 
 practical preparation for life with some cultural 
 training: the soil, the seed, the tree, and stock 
 were studied from new angles. Subjects like 
 
 [ 242 1 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 biology and chemistry, ''dead" when taught 
 in the old theoretical style, when approached 
 from this new practical angle became trans- 
 fused into richness, and could at once be related 
 to life and modern processes. The woman 
 student of these colleges saw that her brother 
 studied chemistry not merely to acquire knowl- 
 edge, but to use this knowledge later in his hfe- 
 work. He wanted to know about steam, not 
 empirically, but so that he could run an engine. 
 
 Women were thus taught to see that there 
 could be "applied science" for women as well 
 as for men; that the laws of heat could be well 
 tested by the management of a kitchen stove; 
 that chemistry of food was as important as the 
 chemistry of the laboratory, and that biology 
 with its lessons on bacteria and ''dust-gardens" 
 could be more richly interpreted in terms of 
 better sanitation and handling of food in the 
 home. 
 
 This led to the establishment in these colleges 
 of various courses in "domestic training," in 
 which the state university of Iowa was the first 
 to lead with a course of lectures to junior girls 
 
 [243 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 in matters connected with housekeeping (1872). 
 Courses in laundry work, and cooking, where the 
 girls prepared their own noon dinner, the nutri- 
 tive values of food, and tests for food adultera- 
 tion, followed. " The interest in the department 
 of domestic economy has been constant and 
 lively," the report of that year read, ''and has 
 not only given the students manual skill, but 
 increased their respect for all branches of such 
 labour and added dignity to that part of their 
 life hitherto considered menial drudgery." 
 
 Kansas followed (1873); and Illinois in 1874 
 opened at Urbana the first high grade college 
 course in domestic science in the world. In the 
 report of Miss Lou Allen, the head of the work 
 for years, she says : 
 
 "With no precedent to guide, few or no 
 textbooks on the subject, with an incredulous 
 public opinion to contend against, the under- 
 taking seemed formidable enough. The school 
 has been the outgrowth of the idea that the 
 rational system of education for women must 
 recognize their distinctive duties as women — 
 [244] 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 the mothers, housekeepers and health-keepers 
 of the world — and furnish instruction which 
 shall fit them to meet these duties." 
 
 Illinois was followed by Iowa, and in 1895 
 there were ten agricultural colleges offering 
 courses in domestic science. In 1905 there were 
 thirty-six. The Secretary of the Department of 
 Agriculture recognized the need of more text- 
 books in the new science, and increased the 
 number of nutrition publications, and in many 
 ways by the organization of the farmer exten- 
 sion and reading courses, and the "Grange" 
 work, carried the work of the agricultural col- 
 leges directly into the home. 
 
 In the East the home economics movement 
 has always been more closely associated with 
 the rise of cooking schools, and the introduction 
 of sewing and cooking into the public schools. 
 The New York Cooking School (1879) ; the first 
 public school kitchen (1887); the public cook- 
 ing "demonstrations of Miss Parloa in Tremont 
 Temple, Boston; the Boston Cooking School, 
 with Mrs. Lincoln, and a long line of splendid 
 
 [U5] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 principals ending with Fannie Merritt Farmer 
 of to-day, are only steps in the chain which 
 introduced cooking and domestic science into 
 our public schools of every grade. 
 
 No story of the home economics movement 
 would be complete without mentioning Ellen H. 
 Richards, instructor in sanitary chemistry in the 
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who 
 may be called the real "mother" of the move- 
 ment, and who devoted her life to ceaseless work 
 in its behalf. Mrs. Richards's long list of books, 
 that famous ''Cost" series and many others, 
 showed the homemakers of a score of years ago 
 that science and intelligent administration could 
 raise the standards of home life, and develop 
 Mrs. Richards's famous "fourth R of Right 
 Living." 
 
 The movement is now rapidly widening, and 
 correspondence courses, lectures, and books on 
 the subject are multiplying. Women's clubs 
 throughout the country, and various special 
 associations, settlement workers, individual 
 cooking lecturers, the household departments 
 of large publications are all taking up the work 
 
 [246 1 
 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 
 
 with good results. Recent individual work like 
 that of Mrs. Patterson, of Colonia, who is 
 helping solve the servant problem through the 
 use of equipment and efficient housekeeping 
 methods, the work of Mrs. Kirk of Cleveland, 
 and other lecturers who are teaching actual 
 housekeepers in these subjects, the fact that 
 Pratt and other technical schools are now 
 offering courses to housewives, are all hopeful 
 signs that domestic science will soon cease to 
 be the cult of a few, and become the knowledge 
 and practice of the many. 
 
 Out of it all there is bound to come a wider 
 spirit of real analytical interest, and therefore 
 the betterment of all home conditions, so that 
 the home, the "cradle of the nation," may be 
 brought toward the efficiency standards at which 
 all man's endeavours and activities are so zest- 
 fully aiming and working. 
 
 [247] 
 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
 
 THE **APPLECROrT" EFFICIENCY 
 KITCHEN 
 
 After studying for considerable time how the 
 efficiency principles could be worked out in the 
 home, it occurred to me that it would be excel- 
 lent if I could have some definite place where I 
 could continue these experiments, and study the 
 '* new housekeeping" in a practical way to meet 
 the average American woman's needs. Doctors 
 have clinics, farmers their experiment stations, 
 and chemists their laboratories, and it seemed 
 quite natural that women should have some 
 place especially devoted to the working out of 
 home problems. Many excellent domestic sci- 
 ence laboratories exist, such as the "practice 
 house" at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, etc. But 
 these laboratories are particularly for the student 
 and not for the woman who does her own work 
 or is engaged actively in managing a home. 
 
 [248] 
 
**applecroft" kitchen 
 
 I wanted some place where I could practically 
 work out these "new housekeeping" ideas. I 
 wanted a place where I could experiment on new 
 devices, materials, and methods which might 
 raise the efficiency of the typical American 
 middle-class homemaker; I wanted my theories 
 to have a practical test, and any writing that I 
 did to be substantiated by actual work and 
 comparison, and so I have developed in my own 
 country home a small ''Efficiency Kitchen." 
 
 Many "model kitchens" have been estab- 
 lished with expensive equipment of the most up- 
 to-date kind; but my object was not expensive 
 devices or labour-savers, no matter how useful, 
 but a kitchen whose fittings would be within 
 the limits of a moderate income. Some enthu- 
 siasts on the labour-saving subject try to main- 
 tain that labour-savers solve the drudgery 
 problem, and that no expense is too great in this 
 line; but I know from personal experience and 
 acquaintanceship with other women that the 
 equipment of the kitchen on a moderate income 
 must not cost more than a very moderate sum. 
 Again, my purpose was to show what could be 
 
 [249 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 done in a kitchen in which electric current and 
 city conveniences were not possible; because 
 while electricity is without doubt the best arti- 
 ficial servant of modern times, its use is available 
 to only a very limited number of the population, 
 and the cost of electric installation and its 
 extensive maintenance at the present rate of 
 current is prohibitive for the family of moderate 
 means. Last, I felt that an efficiency kitchen 
 which had to face the more difficult country 
 problems would benefit a greater number of 
 women than would a city kitchen, whose prob- 
 lems are less difficult. 
 
 The Applecroft Efficiency Kitchen, then, is 
 not a model kitchen with expensive fittings, tools 
 or equipment. It measures only 12 by 14 feet, a 
 space small enough that no waste motion occurs 
 between tasks. Double casement windows at 
 the south and west let in a quantity of light 
 upon the working spaces, and give the ''long 
 view" of outdoors so necessary to relieve the 
 eye strain of the worker. 
 
 The kitchen itself is finished in light cream 
 with white woodwork in a "flat" washable 
 
 [250] 
 
applecroft" kitchen 
 
 paint, which insures sanitary handling, and 
 which is most cheery, Hght, and cool. The floor 
 is covered with a new pressed cork material 
 impervious to grease and very soft to the foot 
 of the worker. The arrangement of the chief 
 equipment is after the manner of the efficient 
 kitchen described in chapter three. Beginning 
 at the south wall, there is, first, a kitchen ele- 
 vator; next, between the windows, a kitchen 
 cabinet, then the three-burner oil stove, and to 
 the right a large serving table, under which is a 
 three-hole fireless cooker. This finishes the 
 equipment of Group I. On the other side of 
 the room — Group II — is merely a double 
 drain kitchen sink, with china shelves the whole 
 length of the dining-room wall to the left of the 
 sink. 
 
 The big central idea in the arrangement of the 
 kitchen is to efficiently route the processes and 
 work which go on there, in order to save cross- 
 stepping, confusion, and energy. The same idea 
 that is nowadays applied to factory layout — 
 the moving of the work in one direction, process 
 after process, with as little waste motion as 
 
 [251] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 possible — was applied to the layout of the 
 Efficiency Kitchen. 
 
 The refrigerator, kitchen cabinet, stove, and 
 table are in one group, placed so that food from 
 the icebox is placed on the cabinet table next to 
 it, in preparation for cooking on the stove next 
 to it, and lifted when finished from the stove to 
 the metal-topped table next to it. From ice- 
 box all the way to the dinins!- room is in one 
 direction. 
 
 On the other side of the kitchen entirely, and 
 moving in the opposite direction, is the clearing- 
 away-process group. The sink, drain-boards, 
 garbage disposal, and china closet are close 
 together. The wheel-tray brings the materials 
 from the dining-room, and the dishes are put 
 through the process, all in one direction. 
 
 Smaller utensils are grouped with the large 
 process to which they belong. Rolling-pin, 
 graters, mixing spoons, and egg-beaters are near 
 the kitchen cabinet; pancake turner, skimmer, 
 and long fork are near the stove; colanders and 
 potato-ricer near the serving table. A two- 
 burner oven with glass door is used for all 
 
 [ 252 ] 
 
"applecroft" kitchen 
 
 baking; an improved colander can be screwed 
 to the kitchen table; a bread and cake mixer 
 are used when needed; a roll of paper toweling 
 is over the table, where it is used for draining 
 potatoes, croquettes, and doughnuts. 
 
 Some of the equipment is fairly expensive, but 
 I am testing it to see if the labour saved justifies 
 the expense. Such a piece is the kitchen ele- 
 vator, which is really an icebox on pulleys, 
 which can be raised and lowered through the 
 kitchen floor to the cellar at the touch of a 
 button. By this device I am able to keep foods 
 in the cool cellar, and yet have them in the 
 kitchen when I need them without the great 
 loss of energy of running up and down the cel- 
 lar steps. A wheel-tray with two large trays 
 mounted on rubber tire wheels enables me to 
 load all the dishes for a meal on it at once, so 
 that one trip is all that is necessary to serve my 
 meal from the kitchen to the dining-room. 
 After the meal the wheel-tray is loaded with 
 soiled dishes and pushed to the right of the sink, 
 where it acts as a sink-table to hold them until 
 washed. The kitchen cabinet, though fairly 
 ' [ 253 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 expensive, I regard as the best step saver 
 any woman can have in her kitchen. It is 
 practically a complete pantry for the storage 
 of current dry groceries and most of the pots 
 and pans. 
 
 All the smaller equipment of the kitchen is 
 aluminum, as I believe aluminum utensils are 
 preferable to almost any other kind because of 
 their lightness, lack of seams, and unusually 
 more artistic shapes. Many of the utensils are 
 very decorative, as I believe it is almost as 
 valuable to have utensils and pans that are 
 decorative as utensils and pans that are efficient. 
 Around two sides of the kitchen is a shelf on 
 which I have placed the especially decorative 
 pitchers, Thermos jugs and casseroles, whose 
 quaint shapes and beauty greatly enhance the 
 appearance of the kitchen. 
 
 The fuels used in the kitchen are only kero- 
 sene in the three-burner stove, and alcohol in 
 the emergency chafing-dish. With the fireless 
 cooker, the portable oven, and the three-burner 
 oil stove I have been able to cook satisfactorily 
 and with great comfort for a family of five and 
 
 [254] 
 
"'applecroft" kitchen 
 
 numerous guests. I banished the coal stove 
 from the very beginning, because generally the 
 fuel consumed is greater proportionately than 
 the amount of heat produced. In addition, the 
 ashes and dirt, not to mention labour, resulting 
 from the use of coal, are not compatible with the 
 highest efficiency. One of the problems of the 
 kitchen is to find still more ways of utilizing the 
 fireless cooker so that fuel and excess heat in 
 the kitchen can be reduced to a minimum. By 
 also using a triple-deck ''steamer," and casserole 
 serving dishes, the kitchen has been able to 
 greatly reduce the labour of washing many pots 
 and pans. 
 
 There are many other small pieces of equip- 
 ment like the Thermos carafe, Christy mixing 
 bowl, and an excellent Chatillon scale which 
 make for efficiency in saved labour and expense ; 
 but the aim of the kitchen is to see how few 
 utensils, pots, and pans are necessary to the 
 average housekeeping. It is in the way tasks 
 are done and their better planning that the 
 kitchen seeks greater efficiency for the home- 
 maker. 
 
 [255] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 The objects of the kitchen, then, are to enable 
 me to still more accurately standardize any 
 household tasks; to enable me to test the various 
 kinds, shapes, and materials of various utensils; 
 to study the best arrangement and materials 
 which can be employed, so that I can still more 
 effectively assist women in their household prob- 
 lems. The work of the kitchen is not limited 
 to the kitchen proper, but includes experiments 
 in cleaning, cleansing devices and tools, and 
 all processes connected with housekeeping and 
 homemaking. 
 
 One of the chief developments of the kitchen 
 is a complete list or file of the name of every 
 manufacturer of every kind of equipment or 
 labour-saving device for the home. The kitchen, 
 in other words, aims to act as a clearing house 
 between the manufacturer and the homemaker 
 and to be ''competent counsel" to the woman 
 who is interested in increasing the efficiency of 
 her housekeeping. Manufacturers, too, often 
 care to have a practical test of their devices 
 before they are put on the market; already 
 several have received helpful criticism of their 
 
 [256] 
 
''applecroft" kitchen 
 
 products. And last, the experiments in the 
 kitchen will serve as a solid basis on which to 
 write articles and matter for publication, so that 
 any work or new material will have the basis of 
 practical testing in a real home under average 
 home conditions. 
 
 {257 
 
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 In this chapter it is not possible to give but a 
 partial list of books on this wide subject. Many 
 excellent books were omitted because they were 
 too technical or elaborate for use in the home. 
 Such books were chosen as would appeal most 
 strongly to the individual homemaker, and 
 assist her to increase her knowledge, stimulate 
 her interest, and raise the standards of her 
 personal efficiency as a homemaker. 
 
 Farmers' Bulletins of the Department 0/ Agriculture 
 
 These Bulletins can be obtained free, by writing for 
 the desired number, to the Department of Agriculture, 
 Washington, D. C. The following list is a partial one, 
 which the author has found helpful: 
 
 No. 34. Meats, Composition, and Cooking 
 
 No. 142. Nutrition and Nutritive Values of Food 
 
 No. 391. Economical Use of Meat in the Home 
 
 No. 389. Bread and Bread-making 
 
 No. 413. Care of Milk, and Use in the Home 
 
 [258 1 
 
HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 No. 128. Eggs and Their Uses as Food 
 
 No. 183. Meat on the Farm — Butchering, etc. 
 
 No. 203. Canned Fruits, Preserves, etc. 
 
 No. 121. Beans, Peas, etc., as Food 
 
 No. 363. Use of Milk as a Food 
 
 No. 298. Food Value of Corn and Corn Products 
 
 No. 256. Preparation of Vegetables for the Table 
 
 The Library of Home Economics 
 
 This library consists of the following twelve volumes, 
 which can be purchased separately. Each book is written 
 by a specialist, but very simply and plainly, so that these 
 volumes are particularly valuable and helpful to the 
 homemaker. They are published by the American 
 School of Home Economics, Chicago, which maintains 
 the best correspondence courses given at the present 
 time in home economics, and which publishes other 
 interesting literature. Price of set, $15. 
 
 1. The House: Its Plan, Decoration and 
 
 Care Bevier 
 
 2. Household Bacteriology Elliott 
 
 3. Household Hygiene Elliott 
 
 4. Chemistry of the Household . . . Dodd 
 
 5. Principles of Cookery Barrows 
 
 6. Food and Dietetics Norton 
 
 7. Household Management .... Terrill 
 
 8. Personal Hygiene Le Bosquet 
 
 9. Home Care of the Sick .... Pope 
 
 10. Textiles and Clothing ..... Watson 
 
 11. Care of Children Cotton 
 
 [259] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Teachers' College Bulletins 
 
 Teachers* College, Columbia University, New York 
 City, publishes the following helpful little bulletins and 
 others at low price: 
 
 Hints on Clothing . . . Price 10 cents Woolman 
 Feeding of Young Children Price 10 cents Rose 
 
 Household Economics 
 
 The following books discuss home economics in a 
 broad general way as well as entering into details: 
 
 The Home Economics Movement, Whitcomb and Bar- 
 rows; Huntington Chambers, Boston; price $.75 
 
 This interesting little book discusses the Home Economics Movement 
 and its introduction into the public schools and colleges. 
 
 Household Economics, Helen Campbell; Putnam & Sons, 
 New York City; price $1.50. 
 
 This thoughtful book describes the building of the house, its decora- 
 tion, furnishings; nutrition, cleansing processes, household service and 
 organized living. 
 
 Home Economics, Maria Parloa; Century Co., New York 
 City; price $1.00. 
 
 Miss Parloa was one of the founders of the Home Economics Move- 
 ment. This book discusses household management, and is full of 
 practical suggestions about the home. 
 
 The Art of Right Living; Whitcomb & Barrows; price 
 $.50. 
 
 In this booklet, Mrs. Richards, the founder of the Home Economics 
 Movement, shows the practical application of ideals of living, food, 
 shelter, sleep, exercise, etc. 
 
 [ 260 1 
 
HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 The Cost of Food, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 
 
 This is one of Mrs. Richards' s famous cost series in which she gives 
 valuable suggestions with regard to reasonable priced dietaries. It 
 helps with special problems of the cost of food for the infant, the school 
 child, etc. 
 
 The Cost of Living, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 
 
 In this volume Mrs. Richards surveys the whole control of family 
 expenditures for better home life. The division of expenditures for 
 various items, clothing, food, operating expenses, etc., are all treated 
 with detail, and is of especial help to those with incomes of $1,500 or over. 
 
 The Cost of Shelter, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 
 
 This book treats of the relation of the house to housekeeping; the 
 relation of cost of shelter and total income, and the problem of whether 
 to rent or own. 
 
 The Cost of Cleanness, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00 
 
 This small volume treats of the clean house, the clean city, the cost of 
 uncleanness, and shows the economic loss due to unsanitary conditions. 
 
 Accounts 
 
 How to Keep Household Accounts; Harper Bros., New 
 York City; price $1.00. 
 
 This little book is full of good suggestions, and shows how to keep 
 household accounts, explains how to start and keep a bank account, 
 and contains other banking and business information for the woman 
 spender. 
 
 The Woman Who Spends, Richardson; Whitcomb & 
 Barrows; price $1.00. 
 
 This interesting small volume discusses somewhat theoretically 
 woman's position as a consumer, and as a producer, and gives the home- 
 maker some novel viewpoints. 
 
 [ 261 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Care of the Child 
 
 Care and Feeding of Children, Holt; Appleton, New York 
 City; price $.75. 
 
 A book for mothers of young children, which in simple catechism 
 form is most helpful, clear, and scientific as well, and which is probably 
 the best single book for the mother of a young child. 
 
 Proper Feeding of the Family, Gibbs; price $.25. 
 
 This pamphlet is issued by the Association for Improving the Condi- 
 tion of the Poor, New York City, 105 East 22nd St. It tells in most 
 simple way about foods, and how to prepare them, with specimen 
 dietaries for the most moderate means, and for school children. 
 
 A Nursery Manual, Benson; Boercke & Tafel, New York 
 City; price $1.00. 
 
 This is an excellent simple book for the mother, and is especially 
 helpful in giving modified milk formulae, and rules for care and treat- 
 ment of the sick child. 
 
 The Daily Meals of School Children, Hunt. 
 
 This is a free pamphlet. No. 3, of the U. S. Bureau of Education, 
 and gives excellent suggestions for making school lunches, which should 
 be helpful to every mother of school children. 
 
 The Baby; Rose. Free pamphlet in the Cornell Reading 
 Course, published at Ithaca, N. Y. 
 Tells just how best to wash, dress, and care for the baby. 
 
 Feeding of Young Children, Rose; Teachers* College; 
 price $.10. 
 
 A bulletin which gives simple meals for the child from 2 to 6 years, 
 and wMch is suggestive and practical. 
 
 [ 262 1 
 
HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 Children's Diet in Home and School, Hogan; Doubleday, 
 Page & Co.; price $.75. 
 Is a helpful guide in preparing the best meals for children. 
 
 Cookery 
 
 Home Science Cook Book, Lincoln & Barrows; Whit- 
 comb & Barrows; price $1.00, 
 
 This very practical and reasonable cook book treats the dishes of 
 breakfast, lunch, and dinner in an interesting way. It gives general 
 principles for many dishes, and is a cook book which would be par- 
 ticularly good for the young housekeeper. 
 
 Boston Cook Book, Lincoln; Little-Brown Co., Boston; 
 price $2.00. 
 
 How to make staples, such as soup, bread, etc., with short discussion 
 of foods and diets for invalids, is included in this sensible book. 
 
 Practical Cooking and Serving, Hill; Doubleday, Page & 
 Co., Garden City, Long Island; price $1.50. 
 A comprehensive book, well illustrated, and valuable. 
 
 Hostess of To-day, Larned; Scribners, New York City; 
 price $1.50. 
 
 This gives excellent suggestions for menus, with cost of recipes; espe- 
 cially suitable for well-to-do homes. 
 
 Cooking for Two, Hill; Little-Brown Co., Boston; price 
 $1.50. 
 Excellent book of recipes and dainty dishes for the very small family. 
 
 Boston Cooking School Book, Farmer; Little-Brown Co., 
 Boston; price $2.00. 
 
 All of these books by Miss Farmer are splendidly illustrated, well 
 written and clear, with most reliable recipes. 
 
 [263 1 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 Foods and Cookery for the Sick, Farmer; Little-Brown Co. • 
 
 $1.50. 
 New Book of Cookery, Farmer; Little-Brown Co., $1.50. 
 Chafing Dish Possibilities, Farmer; Little-Brown Co.; 
 
 $1.00. 
 
 How to Cook in Casserole Dishes, Neil; David McKay, 
 
 Philadelphia; price $1.00. 
 
 This very well illustrated book shows how to prepare foods eco- 
 nomically and more appetizingly with the aid of the casserole, which 
 should be a method of cooking practised in every American home. 
 
 The Fireless Cook Book, Mitchell; Doubleday, Page & 
 Co., Garden City, Long Island.; price $1.25 
 This book tells all about the wonderful fuel-saving fireless, and in- 
 cludes two hundred and fifty recipes, and twenty drawings, with full ex- 
 planations how to use this great boon to the housewife. 
 
 Housewifery 
 The Care of the House, Clark; Macmillan, New York 
 City; price $1.50. 
 
 This is a clear and comprehensive treatise of the house, its materials, 
 woodwork, and care of plumbing, lighting and heating. 
 
 The Complete Housekeeper, Holt; Doubleday, Page & 
 Co.; price $1.00. 
 
 This is a large and excellent work on the whole matter of housekeeping, 
 the care of every department of the home. It is a practical guide as to 
 how to clean, wash, renovate and preserve the different materials and 
 objects in the home. 
 
 Cleaning and Renovating at Home, Osman; McClurg, 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 This is a compendium of all the processes of cleaning and renovating 
 that may be carried on at home. 
 
 [264 1 
 
HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 The Fuels of the Household, White; Whitcomb & Bar- 
 rows; price $.75. 
 
 This is a small book designed to instruct the young housewife in the 
 use of the fuels of the home. 
 
 The Laundry, Rose; Cornell University Bulletin, free. 
 Practical helps and discussions of laundry questions. 
 
 Laundry Work, Sheppard; University of Minnesota; 
 price $.50. 
 
 Small but good discussions of laundry problems. 
 
 Approved Methods of Home Laundering; Proctor & 
 Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio; free. 
 
 Although it mentions the various soaps of the company, it is an 
 excellent booklet 
 
 Bulletins of the Bureau of Entomology 
 These can be obtained free by writing the Department 
 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, of which L. O. Howard 
 is chief. 
 
 The True Clothes Moth. Circular 36. 
 The Bed Bug. Circular 47. 
 House Flies. Circular 108. 
 House FUes. Circular 71. 
 
 Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home. 
 Several of these excellent bulletins have been men- 
 tioned under their proper heads. Write for further 
 information to Martha Van Rensselaer, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Health League Booklets 
 113 Devonshire St., Boston. These are twenty short 
 and helpful booklets which will be sent on payment of a 
 
 [ ^65 ] 
 
THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
 
 $1.00 annual membership in the League. Some of the 
 subjects are Meat and Drink, Care of Little Children, 
 Microbes, etc. 
 
 Bulletins of Professor Barnard at Darien, Conn. 
 
 Professor and Mary Barnard for years maintained a 
 unique Household Experiment Station at Darien, Conn. 
 Many excellent bulletins, such as, "Cooking with De- 
 natured Alcohol," "Comfort in the Kitchen," etc., were 
 formerly issued by him. The plans of the station have 
 changed somewhat, and the author's last advice was that 
 bulletins were no longer to be issued. But Professor 
 Barnard devoted many years to improving the standards 
 of housework, and a debt of gratitude is due for his 
 pioneer work in raising homemaking to a professional 
 standard. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 
 

 
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